Do any of you warn med students away from radiology?

[odyssey2]

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Have had several experiences with older attendings telling me to stay out of rads. Do any of you do this or have experiences with this?

 

[DOFOSHO]

no

 

[Zen Arcade]

What did the attendings say about it?

 

[odyssey2]

One asked the class if there was anyone stupid enough to go into radiology, didn’t expand beyond that. The other talked about increased volumes and declining reimbursements. These were both from my hospital.

 

[Pinocytosis]

One asked the class if there was anyone stupid enough to go into radiology, didn’t expand beyond that. The other talked about increased volumes and declining reimbursements. These were both from my hospital.

I've noticed some of the happiest and some of the most miserable physicians are radiologists. There's one radiologist I know that legitimately complains the entire day. I'm talking 100+ negative comments before noon lecture. In the same day, I'll run into another radiologist who would perform a sternotomy on herself to teach you cardiothoracic anatomy.

 

[Rubix8]

I've noticed some of the happiest and some of the most miserable physicians are radiologists. There's one radiologist I know that legitimately complains the entire day. I'm talking 100+ negative comments before noon lecture. In the same day, I'll run into another radiologist who would perform a sternotomy on herself to teach you cardiothoracic anatomy.

the second example doesn't sound joyful either...

 

[RadsRocks!]

When I started medical school many attendings outside radiology warned about radiology being essentially overthrown by AI during our career and the we would get slammed by the job market. I think this reached a peak in match cycle 2015/2016 and there was a historic low in radiology applicants. I haven't heard about those worries lately and older attendings have told me that radiology is very cyclical as they remember it was one of the most competitive fields in the early 2000s.

 

[GoPelicans]

Older attendings in most specialties are jaded and bitter, it comes with the territory of working a busy and stressful job for decades. We still have it better than most other doctors.

 

[stcl]

I fully agree: radiologists have it a lot better than a lot of other doctors. Even derm has its downsides with having to see 40+ patients a day with quick turnaround time in order to keep up the business. Yes, we work hard as radiologists, and yes the trend is toward more work for less pay and the assembly line of medicine, but to say it's worse than other specialties is simply incorrect. A lot of doctors wish they were in our shoes.

I really enjoy my work. I feel a sense of pride in studying to be the best radiologist I can be so that I can better take care of patients and help the referring docs. I chose this specialty because you basically get to play with lots of high tech toys and apply a really detailed understanding of anatomy, pathology, and pathophysiology to help patient care.

It can be hard work and not every day is great, but overall I'm really thankful that I get paid to do this each day.

 

[Splenda88]

As of now, radiology is one of the best specialties in medicine. This is coming from an IM resident.

 

[efle]

As of now, radiology is one of the best specialties in medicine. This is coming from an IM resident.

I'm curious what your other top picks would be from over in IM. Derm? Anesthesia?

 

[halpmepls]

Every radiologist at my medical school/institution commended me on my decision to pursue radiology and said I was making a great choice. Shame to think that people can have such wildly different experiences just based on luck of the draw where they complete their medical education.

 

[efle]

Every radiologist at my medical school/institution commended me on my decision to pursue radiology and said I was making a great choice. Shame to think that people can have such wildly different experiences just based on luck of the draw where they complete their medical education.

I'm fresh off interview season and tons of residents and attendings commented stuff like "congrats on choosing the best specialty! let me tell you why you should learn it here at our program"

Then again these are academic docs and trainees, not private practice churn-and-burn guys who I imagine are a lot more burnt out

 

[Splenda88]

I'm curious what your other top picks would be from over in IM. Derm? Anesthesia?

I would say ophthalmology and psych...