Career outlook (and checking out other stuff)

[m3unsure]

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Hey to all,

I wanted people's input on ophthalmology in terms of others encroaching on the field's area of work and realistic hours/salaries for general or specialized ophthos once out near urban areas (ex: metro-Chicago). Various websites offer their info, but can't really go off these survey/recruiter sites. Some real world experience would be appreciated.

And to keep it straightforward as possible and without the patronizing BS, I've come to the following conclusions:

1.) I like techy stuff/visual sciences versus being on the floors waiting for labs
2.) OR is a plus though I seem to favor the idea of procedures rather than actually doing surgery
3.) Like most normal people, I'd like predictable hours that don't compromise personal time. Being a good doctor don't mean jack when you take away from your other responsibilities (son, father, friend...yada yada), which all doctors do to some degree (I'd like to minimize mine).
4.) I pretty much only despise psychiatry and 1/2 of OB/GYN.

So, I'm thinking my potential paths could be ophthalmology, anesthesia, or rads in no particular order. Each one has its pros and cons, and I'm not ready to rule out the others because I like one necessarily (give everything a fair shot is my motto). Should I go ahead with doing all three electives? I assume I don't need to do 2 rotations of a specialty esp. ophtho since people who match usually have only 1.

 

[Paulie]

I recently matched into ophtho and can share with you some limited info / insight. I too considered anesthesia and rads, amongst many,many other fields - I was very unsure through most of med school but eventually chose a great field.

My take on the fields:

1) Rads - very interesting and intellectual. I find the docs to be extremely intelligent and know a lot about medicine (as much as you can by not ever seeing the pt). The lifestyle can obviously be very good as well as the money. It also seems that the future in the field is pretty bright - especially in IR. Reminds me of ophtho in that both fields are very intellectual (potential for diagnosing weird diseases) and image based. I always enjoyed imaging, pictures, etc as opposed to labs to dx and tx disease. In the end, I realized that simply it would not be acceptable for me to practice a type of medicine where you don't see patients. I truly enjoy talking to patients and think that's one of the main things that gets you through the day (or night as I am currently doing nightfloat). Yes, if you do IR you see patients...better, but I still don't think it's the same.

2) Anesthesia - Lifestyle attracted me initially, and I realized that theoretically, on paper, it is interesting. Good docs know their pharm and physiology really well. However, I'm not sure this knowledge translates a whole lot into actual daily use. After a two week rotation I got pretty bored simply sitting there looking at the vitals cycle over and over - I always caught mylsef looking over the curtain wishing I was doing the cutting. Some may like this (not me) but their work motto is 99% boredom, 1% utter fear.
Keep in mind though that there are many different facets of anesthesia - critical care, OBGYN, cardiac and pain management which I had very little exposure too.

3) Ophtho - there are many reasons why I eventually chose this field but the important ones were
1) medical and surgical - complete specialization into an organ system
2) patient contact
3) intellectual
4) An opportunity to operate, use you hands, and still have a managable lifestyle
5) Retina surgery looks like the movie "Abyss" (its a visually stunning field)

A big downside in the field that I still think about is the fact that you do become so specialized - after my intern year I will pretty much never worry about my pt's kidneys and I will never use a stethoscope again. EVERY field has it's pros and cons - I recommend trying to do electives in as many as possible (even 2 week one) to see for yourself. Yes it's great to talk to others, but usually it is biased (as is this post) - thus try it out yourself. Good luck