Do you think radiology will become more competitive in the coming years?

[odyssey2]

Seems like there’s been an upswing in interest this year. Will radiology become as competitive as it was in the early 2000s?

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[SeisK]

Seems like there’s been an upswing in interest this year. Will radiology become as competitive as it was in the early 2000s?

There will always be uninformed doomsayer radiologists and non-radiologists who scare young influencable med students away with the threat of AI. I think until we see a few prospective trials show up with poor/limited results, or until there’s a big NYT article about the failure of AI adoption in healthcare, young vulnerable med students are not going to risk what they aren’t sure is a steadfast solid gameplan/outcome.

I think the next five years are critically dangerous to AI in radiology. Either the medicare and insurance reimbursements start showing up for these adjunct software, or they’re hosed. And right now I don’t see medicare being in a good enough financial position (with respect to their own solvency) that they can be extremely ambitious and generous with these assisting device reimbursements.

I think the competitiveness did go up this year from what I’ve been hearing, but it probably isn’t on par with ortho which it should be.

 

[GoPelicans]

Looking back at the past 20 years basically everything goes through cycles where it's popular or unpopular but always comes back to the mean within a few years. There are a few specialties which have tanked in popularity but none have really surged above its baseline. Radiology is in an up period but I assume once word gets out and it's deemed 'too competitive' ppl will apply to other stuff and it will return to mean. I also think a lot of ppl apply to do ESIR, but will apply to other stuff instead once that window closes.

 

[qxrt]

There will always be uninformed doomsayer radiologists and non-radiologists who scare young influencable med students away with the threat of AI.

Honestly, the only people I've seen call AI a threat to radiologists are non-radiologists (i.e. people who don't practice radiology and don't understand the practice of radiology). I have not heard any radiologists seriously call AI the doom of the field.

I even remember the med student with a fascination with AI planning to go into radiology who posted here a few years ago about how AI could take over substantial swaths of radiology, who then completely changed his tune once he actually started residency and realized that there are severe limitations to what AI can actually accomplish in radiology.

 

[SeisK]

Honestly, the only people I've seen call AI a threat to radiologists are non-radiologists (i.e. people who don't practice radiology and don't understand the practice of radiology). I have not heard any radiologists seriously call AI the doom of the field.

I even remember the med student with a fascination with AI planning to go into radiology who posted here a few years ago about how AI could take over substantial swaths of radiology, who then completely changed his tune once he actually started residency and realized that there are severe limitations to what AI can actually accomplish in radiology.

I’ve seen several radiologists do so, on auntminnie and in conversation, even very recently. It’s something I try to challenge them on, gently, every time I hear. But I think the rhetoric is enough that a lot of med students with very high debt wouldn’t accept as a risk, even if it means mistakenly forgoing the best specialty in medicine.

 

[Cognovi]

How competitive was it in the 2000s? Just wondering what metric I should look at

 

[SeisK]

How competitive was it in the 2000s? Just wondering what metric I should look at

Here’s the 2009 NRMP Charting the Outcomes when radiology was quite competitive still. Board scores averaged that of neurosurg and ortho, and research experiences / publications were similar. Ortho and nsg had more applicants per spot than DR, but DR had quite a few unmatched that year.

https://pmhs.berkeley.edu/documents/chartingoutcomes2009v3.pdf

 

[90sportsfan]

How competitive was it in the 2000s? Just wondering what metric I should look at

From what I heard, the old "ROAD" acronym for the most competitive/popular specialties offering the best combination of money and lifestyle, was really coined around the late 90's/early 2000's. Radiology, Ophthalmology, Anesthesiology, and Derm.

*I think the "O" stood for Ophthalmology and not Orthopedic Surgery, although Ortho and Neuro Surgery have always been 2 of the most competitive (and well-paying) specialties, although the hours and training has always been tough, so they were never exactly "cush."

Anesthesiology is apparently another specialty that was very similar to Radiology in that it was apparently very competitive/popular in the late 90's/early 2000's. I think the whole CRNA thing is what impacted their popularity/competitiveness.