Can I still get into dermatology??

[Law2Doc]

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To reverse the trend the government (actually the American public) is going to have to pony up and increase salaries of these specialties so that they can compete with derm for the students. Either that or the specialties have to fundamentally change and decrease the time spent in the hospital and on call.

I would think you could tinker with the number of funded residency slots to make certain fields more or less competitive (and thus drive the salaries in that specialty up or down, as occurs in derm currently) or alternatively with more slots/bodies could drive the hours/call in a particular specialty down?

 

[DoctorFunk]

I would think you could tinker with the number of funded residency slots to make certain fields more or less competitive

We could always just "persuade" any patient who develops skin cancer and whose dermatologist missed the diagnosis to sue the crap out of them. There's gotta be some way to spread the malpractice suits around.

But yeah, count me among those who are disappointed that the "best and brightest" med students are going to spend their time looking at rashes 6 hours a day instead of researching and treating heart disease or cancer.

 

[MossPoh]

Or we could just form an ingenius plan where we put stuff in the water that eats away people's skin....cut them off at the soruce. No skin no money baby.

 

[Hallm_7]

<i>I would think you could tinker with the number of funded residency slots to make certain fields more or less competitive (and thus drive the salaries in that specialty up or down, as occurs in derm currently) or alternatively with more slots/bodies could drive the hours/call in a particular specialty down?</i>

What the CT surgeon I was talking about was saying was that CT surgery spots are going either: 1. unfilled entirely or 2. filled, but with significantly lower quality applicants compared to 10 or 15 years ago.

Increasing the number of slots won't help, and could actually make the situation worse. Decreasing the number of slots might make the average applicant more qualified, but the total number of training CT surgeons will remain constant or decrease.

I guess you could try to increase the number of derm spots, but I'd be willing to bet the derm specialty society wouldn't stand for that! haha

 

[Law2Doc]

I guess you could try to increase the number of derm spots, but I'd be willing to bet the derm specialty society wouldn't stand for that! haha

They are fairly few in number -- they would get outvoted.😀

 

[Biscuit799]

I personally am very skeptical about any med student that is interested in dermatology. I mean kids grow up wanting to do cardiology, or family practice, or surgery, or ER medicine. No kid in the history of the world has every grown up saying "skin infections, now THAT's cool!" The only reason anyone in the world wants to do derm before they experience it during 4th year is because they want to take home 400 grand/year working 32 hour weeks.

 

[Law2Doc]

The only reason anyone in the world wants to do derm before they experience it during 4th year is because they want to take home 400 grand/year working 32 hour weeks.

I tend to agree with you. But I fear your exaggerated figures in your post are only going to fuel more of this. According to the JAMA table posted in another thread the average for derm is $221k and 46 hrs/wk.🙂

 

[Biscuit799]

Why all the anamosity for students who want to do derm? If you kick butt in med school, then you should be rewarded. Derm is this reward. Stop the hate!

because derm is not a "reward." If you want to do derm, that's fine, but most people don't. and by most people, i mean everyone who wants to be a doctor but hasn't been groped into the "lifestyle" specialties. The "reward" is doing the specialty you want (i.e. family practice) at an institution that will give you the best training (i.e. Mayo Clinic).

 

[Biscuit799]

I tend to agree with you. But I fear your exaggerated figures in your post are only going to fuel more of this. According to the JAMA table posted in another thread the average for derm is $221k and 46 hrs/wk.🙂

lol...well can't argue that.

 

[DoctorFunk]

I tend to agree with you. But I fear your exaggerated figures in your post are only going to fuel more of this. According to the JAMA table posted in another thread the average for derm is $221k and 46 hrs/wk.🙂

Yes, but surely the salary is driven down and the hours worked driven up in this data by the high number of selfless dermatologists, working tirelessly for pennies on the dollar to help underserved communities in sparsely populated areas to free themselves from the oppression of skin infections.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

because derm is not a "reward." If you want to do derm, that's fine, but most people don't. and by most people, i mean everyone who wants to be a doctor but hasn't been groped into the "lifestyle" specialties. The "reward" is doing the specialty you want (i.e. family practice) at an institution that will give you the best training (i.e. Mayo Clinic).

The world is far from ideal. The reality is people want comfortable lives and its not our place to criticize them for it.

 

[DoctorFunk]

and its not our place to criticize them for it.

See, now this is where you lost me.

 

[Biscuit799]

The world is far from ideal. The reality is people want comfortable lives and its not our place to criticize them for it.

and i have no problem with anybody saying "you know what, i want to make money and live comfortably, so i'm going into derm." All I would have to say to that is that it's much easier to go into business and make the kind of money you're looking for, but hey, i respect honesty.
when some premed says "gosh, i'm really interested in derm," then I know they're full of it.