Any former surgeons/surgeons-to-be?

[CutIt]

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I have been surgery all through med school, but now in my fourth year I am starting to seriously question that due to the lifestyle. Has anyone here switched to rad from surgery? If so, how do you account for the diagnostic emphasis of radiology vs the glamorous treatment emphasis of surgery?

 

[Rads Resident]

A friend of mine is in is his 5th year of surgery and seriously contemplating jumping to rads now (though I doubt he will). What they don't tell you in med school about surgery is that what seemed so cool when you first saw it, starts to become routine half way through residency and by the end (at least for my friend) is boring. I mean, what makes your 500th cholecystectomy exciting? It then becomes a game of how fast can you work so you can keep your schedule full and your wallet as well. Meanwhile, you're taking out yet another appendix at 3:00 am. There's not much "glory" in that.

But I will say, if you need pats on the back, don't choose radiology. Nobody will thank you for a job well done. Heck, most clinicians have no clue if you've done a great job or not. To them, radiology is simple ... just look at a picture and say what it shows. As one of my staff says, "Everyone is a radiologists ... until they get into trouble and then they can't find a real one soon enough." Still, they think they can do our job better than you. And --I think this is funny-- they claim credit for our work. (I see clinicians who can't spell CT discuss the results of one with their patients as though they read it.) Patients will never thank you and half the public will probably think you're an x-ray tech.

All that being said, radiology has become the most competitive specialty for a reason. It's the best. The radiologists make the majority of diagnoses and make the crucial decisions that affect the sickest patients. An intern can follow a cookbook and treat a patient once the diagnosis made, but it's the radiologist who puts that patient down correct path.

 

[maxheadroom]

Milton,

I think you're a little off on your interpretation (pun intended).

1. True, most clinicians are amateur radiologists. Several reasons here.
a. We need to see the pathology ourselves for pre-op planning.
b. We don't have time to wait for a reading, especially in the late hours of the night.
c. While you might be the expert on the machine & images, we're the experts on the patient who has been scanned.

2. While I agree that some of the more common surgeries can get mundane, don't tell me that you live to read CXRs.

3. True, you don't get many pats on the back. Most of my friends who choose rads pick it because of the lack of patient interaction.

4. Most competitive?? Dream on. Somewhat competitive and rising would be more accurate. When rads becomes like derm and integrated plastics (and remains super-competitive for more than a couple of years), then you can start to claim "most competitive status."

5. I appreciate the tremendous role that the radiology attendings and residents play in my learning experience as a surgical resident. They're always happy to go over a film with me and show me the more subtle findings that I'd never catch on my own. And that's why radiologists are important.