Derm vs radiology

[yoyohomieg5432]

I'm an M4 trying to find out what I want to do with my life and feel caught between these 2 specialties and would appreciate any insight!

Radiology
Pros: i think i enjoy reading the scans, i find the research more interesting in this field. can work from home/anywhere, seems like you can have a relatively good lifestyle (not much call/weekends depending what you do). less competitive = better chances matching at ideal location/program
Cons: 6 years for residency (basically required fellowship), questionable job security in the future with AI and other tech getting better and better,

Derm
Pros: guaranteed comfortable lifestyle (minimal weekends/call).patient interaction. procedures
cons: the day-day bread and butter isn't terribly interesting to me (skin checks, acne, eczema, etc) but I really like the more unique cases. very competitive = less likely to match at ideal location or program.

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[W19]

I get that you will enjoy radiology more than derm from reading your post. Don't get caught in the derm phenomenon in which med students with great stats think they have to do derm in order to not 'waste' their stats.

 

[JPSmyth]

Will you be able to match derm?

 

[DrfluffyMD]

It boils down to one question: can I see 50 patients a day about skin complaints. If you can, do derm. If not, rads.

 

[DJNYY]

I'm an M4 trying to find out what I want to do with my life and feel caught between these 2 specialties and would appreciate any insight!

Radiology
Pros: i think i enjoy reading the scans, i find the research more interesting in this field. can work from home/anywhere, seems like you can have a relatively good lifestyle (not much call/weekends depending what you do). less competitive = better chances matching at ideal location/program
Cons: 6 years for residency (basically required fellowship), questionable job security in the future with AI and other tech getting better and better,

Derm
Pros: guaranteed comfortable lifestyle (minimal weekends/call).patient interaction. procedures
cons: the day-day bread and butter isn't terribly interesting to me (skin checks, acne, eczema, etc) but I really like the more unique cases. very competitive = less likely to match at ideal location or program.

Your con regarding AI for DR is overstated. They already have EKG interpreting technology which can't even accurately nail a rhythm down. The odds of AI becoming the sole tool to replace radiologists BEFORE replacing other specialties that have more basic pattern recognition is unlikely. But while there's nothing wrong with only looking at "lifestyle specialties", try to think about which specialty offers work that is most enjoyable for you. Derm and diagnostic rads have almost zero overlap aside from favorable work hours.

 

[guytakingboards]

Your con regarding AI for DR is overstated. They already have EKG interpreting technology which can't even accurately nail a rhythm down. The odds of AI becoming the sole tool to replace radiologists BEFORE replacing other specialties that have more basic pattern recognition is unlikely. But while there's nothing wrong with only looking at "lifestyle specialties", try to think about which specialty offers work that is most enjoyable for you. Derm and diagnostic rads have almost zero overlap aside from favorable work hours.

Agreed. As a senior resident in radiology going into fellowship next year, I am not at all worried about AI replacing me anytime soon. We have AI in mammo (Computer-Aided Detection aka CAD) and it's not terribly useful. It's highly sensitive and not remotely specific.

We're about as close to AI replacing radiologists as AI replacing internists or a Da Vinci machine replacing surgeons.

 

[Cognovi]

Dermatology and radiology are very similar insofar as both fields focus on visual diagnosis. Both fields will therefore evolve as AI gets better at pattern recognition and classification. See Esteva et al. "Dermatologist-level classification of skin cancer with deep neural networks." Nature 2017;542(7639):115-118. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v542/n7639/full/nature21056.html

Both fields have relatively good lifestyles. Both fields provide the opportunity for procedures. Both are high-volume and therefore will expose you to unique cases. All fields have boring bread and butter.

Here are the differences. First, whereas dermatology involves the problems on the skin, radiology involves problems under the skin, ie, everything else. Decide whether it is more interesting to you to see the patient or see inside the patient. Second, whereas dermatology involves interacting with patients more than with other physicians, radiology involves interacting with other physicians more than with patients. Decide whether you enjoy more being the doctor or the doctor's doctor.

Regarding the difference in competitiveness, if you have above average stats, and therefore will probably match, a location difference should not be a driving factor in deciding what you do for the rest of your career. Regarding the difference in training length, a 1-2 year difference should also not be a driving factor in deciding what you do for the rest of your career.

 

[LakeDr]

If you had to work in your 60's and 70's and on (which a lot of Doctors do) which one could you see yourself doing at that point and everyday leading up to that point. Ultimately you will have to make that decision; however, I think they are both wonderful skills. The procedures are not overly taxing physically for derm compared to other surgery subspecialties and radiology is mostly visually and intellectually integrated problem solving. Of course you can do interventional
Procedures if you do an IR fellowship. I would also probably watch as many Videos on derm and radiological cases (documentaries, procedures, educational, etc.) to really give you an idea of all the different perspectives you probably missed out on in rotations. Prayers and Best of luck deciding, and congrats on being able to consider these specialties not many people have these in reach!

 

[Snoopy2006]

Theoretically these two shouldn't be close. The lack of patient interaction with radiology and the high volume of derm (30+ patients a day) make them very distinct. I eliminated rads early on because I knew I personally would miss patient interaction - but at least from the little you wrote, it sounds like you enjoy rads more. Trying to predict the future of a field is extremely difficult. It seems like if you set aside concerns about AI and competition, rads seems to speak to you more.

And the advice I give to medical students is to never go into a field if you can't do the bread and butter. Plus if you haven't already done derm-specific research, the odds of matching into derm are low.