Can radiologists get fired if they don't read fast enough?

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94hdogs

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I mean like if you're slower than average. Obviously, if you read one thing per hour, you're gonna get fired.

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Sure. If you’re at an ultra high volume practice and you’re reading at the lower half of an academic pace, they’re not going to want to make you partner.

Everything else is circumstance dependent. You may be at an ultra high volume practice that is so starved for help in this market they’ll accept employing a slow reader without partnership, at a possibly reduced salary.

You can get fired if you’re an employee and your bosses are annoyed, this is true everywhere. The goal is to meet a threshold not to annoy people that have power over you.
 
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Of course. If you don't fulfill the expectations of your job... you get fired.

As SeisK mentioned, everything is circumstance dependent. Some groups will give you a lot of rope to get your speed up. In the current market, where a lot of groups are short staffed, they might give you a lot more rope or a lot less rope.

In any event, *if you're slow* you better make sure your reads are quality and you're well-liked.
 
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Probably #1 reason why rad would be terminated from a group, especially private practice. That’s why you have to know your own abilities and limitations. Every new rad coming out of training is slow and we cut you slack. If you haven’t shown significant improvement in 6 months, 1 year, 1.5 years, you’re probably a gonna. Some radiologists have OCD and they are just bad fits except in academia.
 
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Getting a job is like dating. There are many different types of jobs when it comes to the type of modalities that you read or the volume of the practice. You have to pick a job that fits you the best. Most groups will let you know about the volume that you are expected to read.

If you want to read at a slow pace, then you can get a low volume job or a VA job.
 
If you’re slow and leave at 5 oclock? Good luck

I would forgive a slow radiologist who stays later than everyone else and ends up with average amount of work performed
 
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