Current DO Resident (Radiology) - Ask me (Almost) Anything

[GuitarFreak]

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I hope this isn't a stupid question but are you concerned about the outsourcing of Radiology jobs to other countries/companies?! Do you think it will stay this way in the next 10-15 years?

I'm not too worried about it. The international outsourcing was a pretty big issue a few years ago but has really taken a hit now due to lack of quality of the reports. The issue now has been smaller practices getting swallowed up by super-practices (typically non-physician owned / VC backed etc). Unfortunately, I do think that its the future of Radiology. That said, however, jobs do exist. The quality has gone down. You work a lot more for much less money (still pretty good though) and it isn't so much a lifestyle specialty. But at the end of the day, I'd much rather do Radiology than anything else so I'm not too bothered about the quality of jobs.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Is the size proportional to the amount of pathology?

100% of the time

 

[GuitarFreak]

What percentage of your time is spent reading different scans? For example 80% x-rays and CT, 20% MRI? Do you read PET scans as well? Do diagnostic rads people specialize further into subsets of rads? Admittedly know very little about this specialty.

Great question! Unfortunately, the way medical schools are set up, you won't get much exposure to Rads, until much much later so it's completely understandable that lots of people know less about the field.

The different modalities depends on what rotation you're on. If you're on your ultrasound rotation, that's all you'll likely read. When you're on Neuro, you'll read more modalities like CTs, MRIs, MRAs, as well as do small procedures like discograms or LPs or Myelograms etc. On MSK, you'll read X-rays, MRIs, a lot less CTs and also do small procedures.

We do read PETs.

Most diagnostic rads almost have to subspecialize via a fellowship, in today's job climate. Some people do multiple fellowships in order to be more marketable.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Where are you going to school, location-wise? I can't understand how you managed to commute or find research opportunities that you could attend to for 4 year, while also meeting with residents from other programs. I'd love to be able to do as you, but it seems like most DO schools are fairly isolated these days. Care to elaborate?

edit: just noticed this was partly answered already.

I went to medical school in the Northeast surrounded by a number of academic institutions. I understand what you mean though, since lots of DO schools are in remote locations. That wasn't the case for me. I lived, went to med school and conducted research in a 15 minute radius. So it was manageable.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Wondering the same thing.

Also, what's your case load like on an average day?

Case load varies depending on rotation. But being at a large trauma center, I'd have to say the case load is fairly high, especially on call.

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

Any personal favorite books you would recommend?

 

[GuitarFreak]

Any personal favorite books you would recommend?

Salt & Saffron by Kamila Shamsie

 

[DetectiveAlonzo]

What are your plans for after residency? Where would you like to practice? Any plans of fellowships?

 

[I'mJustCurious]

1. Any advice for premed students to motivate them to work harder?
2. What was it like at the white coat ceremony before starting medical school?
3. What was your studying schedule like during medical school?

 

[GuitarFreak]

What are your plans for after residency? Where would you like to practice? Any plans of fellowships?

Most definitely a fellowship - definitely not IR or body. I have some time to choose between Neuro, MSK and Mammo. I'd probably like to be in private practice group in a major metropolitan area. However, with the current job climate, it seems that you're basically at the mercy of where the jobs open up and the relocating based on that. That may or may not change.

 

[GuitarFreak]

1. Any advice for premed students to motivate them to work harder?
2. What was it like at the white coat ceremony before starting medical school?
3. What was your studying schedule like during medical school?

1. Any motivation you have to study harder right now, will be dwarfed when compared to what you'll encounter and need to exercise during your time at medical school. Re-evaluate where you are. If you're not working your hardest, you may have a much tougher time adapting to the daily grind in medical school.

2. It was quite surreal, actually. It gets really easy to be jaded as you go through the process of medicine and deal with the politics of it all but back then, it was extremely surreal to wear a white coat, which felt like the first physical manifestation of "becoming a doctor"

3. It's very important to stay on top of studying and to not lag behind. I've always been of the opinion that medical school is not hard - its just really really tedious. Lots of information will be thrown at you at the same time so its important to stay up to date. I was pretty good at time management and set my tasks for the week & did what I had to do to accomplish them (reading assignments etc). If it took me longer than expected, then I'd have to cancel plans at times. If I was able to get through my work in less time than anticipated, then I had more time to hang out with my friends.

 

[37Base]

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Did you do multiple rad electives? And/or audition at your current program. Also, Is it common to match radiology without research?

 

[I'mJustCurious]

1. What was your motivation to do well in undergrad besides that you wanted to get into medical school?
2. What must you have in order to have a great study session by yourself? Headphones, pens. etc.

 

[TheUPSIDEdown]

How do you maintain focus and energy in a dark room with 20 CXRs in a row at 745 am?

When you're on call do you read from home? How often does your call require you to come in and do procedures? How often do you have to ask or call in your attending for an on call procedure?

How subjectively stressed are you compared to your friends who chose other fields in medicine?


As a diagnostic rad resident, how much variability within rad do you rotate through? Any IR? How long is each rotation?

Which modality do you enjoy most?

I'm really interested in rad and I've been shadowing a little bit. About to graduate from an anatomy masters and then onto DO school so keeping anatomy under my belt is on my mind.