Endocrinology and nutrition

[azcomdiddy]

I love areas related to nutrition, obesity and diabetes. I am absolutely fascinated with these areas. I like medicine in general as well. A friend of mine who is an internist said I should consider endocrinology as a potential field. Do you think this advice was shallow or do you think there was some merit to his advice?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Lara]

Seeing as diabetics (moreso Type II) are the most prevalent endocrine patients, I'd say there absolutely is merit.

I'll probably end up doing endocrinology myself - only on the peds side.

 

[tofurious]

Endocrinologists get very little reward for what they do. If you are interested in nutrition and obesity, a preventive medicine residency can get you to the same destination (especially if you are interested in public health).

 

[Dazed]

How do yall think advances in gene therapy, biochem, and molecular bio will affect the future of endocrinology? Any thoughts?

 

[novacek88]

Endocrinologists get very little reward for what they do.[If you are interested in nutrition and obesity, a preventive medicine residency can get you to the same destination (especially if you are interested in public health).

Couldn't disagree more with the above response!

If one is interested in nutrition and obesity related issues, endocrinology is a far better field than preventative medicine for many reasons.Preventative medicine focuses on macroscopic health issues and public health in general. Endicrinologists deal directly with patients already sufferring from these conditions. Endicronologists manage diabetic and obese patients for the most part. They also specialize and deal directly with lipids much moresoe than a non-invasive cardiologist. As far as reward is concerned, most endicronologists still earn around 200K which may not seem like much considering they take practically no call, I wouldn't say they are not rewarded for what they do. An endicronologist who has a thriving practice, can earn twice that amount if he or she is willing to work longer hours and not the usual chill lifestyle of most endocrinologists. Preventative medicine offers far less financial rewards than endocrinologists not to mention specializing in a field which scope isn't full define.

 

[Filter]

Couldn't disagree more with the above response!

If one is interested in nutrition and obesity related issues, endocrinology is a far better field than preventative medicine for many reasons.Preventative medicine focuses on macroscopic health issues and public health in general. Endicrinologists deal directly with patients already sufferring from these conditions. Endicronologists manage diabetic and obese patients for the most part. They also specialize and deal directly with lipids much moresoe than a non-invasive cardiologist. As far as reward is concerned, most endicronologists still earn around 200K which may not seem like much considering they take practically no call, I wouldn't say they are not rewarded for what they do. An endicronologist who has a thriving practice, can earn twice that amount if he or she is willing to work longer hours and not the usual chill lifestyle of most endocrinologists. Preventative medicine offers far less financial rewards than endocrinologists not to mention specializing in a field which scope isn't full define.

Fully agree with the above post. Endocrine is the way to go if interested in DM, obesity, and lipid metabolism.

 

[bariume]

Fully agree with the above post. Endocrine is the way to go if interested in DM, obesity, and lipid metabolism.

There are a few nutrition fellowships that you can do post- internal medicine residency which focus more on obesity and nutrition than diabetes and other endocrine issues. I believe there is one at UCLA.

 

[azcomdiddy]

There are a few nutrition fellowships that you can do post- internal medicine residency which focus more on obesity and nutrition than diabetes and other endocrine issues. I believe there is one at UCLA.

I wouldn't want to be limited to obesity and nutrition issues hence the desire to further develve into the possibility of endocrinology.

 

[novacek88]

Just make sure you research endocrinology. There is a reason why it is not competitive; the main one being that you would do two additional years in a fellowship to not earn significantly more than what you would earn as an internist. DM, obesity, and hypertension are the bread and butter of most IM practices anyway so you wouldn't really need to complete a fellowship in endocrinology to practice this type of medicine.

And many insurance carriers will not reimburse an endocrinologist as a specialist for routine procedures like treating DM. That's another major reason why they don't earn much more than a generl internist.

 

[fatsal]

Someone wrote a post asking why one would go into cardiology. A better question is why would anyone go into endocrinology? At least with cardiology, you are doing procedures and making 500K to justify all the further training. Doing 2 more years of fellowship isn't worth making only 20K that what you would earn just being an internist. And people say endocrine offers a great lifestyle. So does internal medicine if you refuse to treat certain cases and refer them out. Endocrinology has to be one of the biggest rip off fellowship in regards to it's value. I would much rather do a rheumatology or a nephrology fellowship before I would go into endocrinology. Just compare the three. There is no advantage to becoming an endocrinologist unless you want to go into academics as an endocrinologist. Otherwise, you are better off just practicing as an internist and using those 2-3 years of fellowship to establish your practice.

http://www.allied-physicians.com/salary_surveys/physician-salaries.htm


SPECIALTY Years 1-2 >3 Max
Endocrinology $171K $187K $260K
Rheumatology $179K $229K $378K
Nephrology $191K $269K $447K

 

[souljah1]

What internist doesn't work with DM, obesity and nutrition-based problems on a regular basis? You really think it's worth spending two more years in a fellowship to do the same job you would as an internist for not much more pay.

I think that if you are interested in working specifically with problems related with DM and obesity, and not so interested in ID, GI, Cards, Renal - then it makes a lot of sense to do two more years and increase your fund of knowledge in the area that you have the most passion for. Yes, you get plenty of DM-related issues, hyperlipidemia, and obesity as an internist, but you also get plenty of exposure in other areas. To me, wanting to focus on DM and obesity is no different than someone wanting to focus on GI --except for the paycheck. And I have time and time again from most of the docs that teach us here that while your paycheck is important, its value will not be so great if you are miserable in what you are doing. Gotta do what moves you.

 

[fatsal]

I think that if you are interested in working specifically with problems related with DM and obesity, and not so interested in ID, GI, Cards, Renal - then it makes a lot of sense to do two more years and increase your fund of knowledge in the area that you have the most passion for. Yes, you get plenty of DM-related issues, hyperlipidemia, and obesity as an internist, but you also get plenty of exposure in other areas. To me, wanting to focus on DM and obesity is no different than someone wanting to focus on GI --except for the paycheck. And I have time and time again from most of the docs that teach us here that while your paycheck is important, its value will not be so great if you are miserable in what you are doing. Gotta do what moves you.

But what is the reality that someone would get just endocrine related cases? That's the point. Most endocrinologists don't focus solely on issues related to their fellowship like specialists in other fields. Most endocrinologists practice a lot of general internal medicine to make ends meet unlike cardiologists, GI's etc.

 

[azcomdiddy]

I find all of this negative information hard to believe. Regardless if you don't do procedures, you are still a specialist and thus would be reimbursed at a specialist's scale by medicare and other providers. So I fail to see how a busy endocrinologist would barely make more than a general internist? Are there any endocrine fellows or IM residents considering this field who could elaborate on this topic?

 

[SmallTownGuy]

I find all of this negative information hard to believe. Regardless if you don't do procedures, you are still a specialist and thus would be reimbursed at a specialist's scale by medicare and other providers. So I fail to see how a busy endocrinologist would barely make more than a general internist? Are there any endocrine fellows or IM residents considering this field who could elaborate on this topic?

Go with what you like and the money will follow. If you enjoy endocrine and want to do a fellowship in it then go for it. Everyone's dream is to find something that they love and get paid for it. Good luck in the future.

 

[azcomdiddy]

Go with what you like and the money will follow. If you enjoy endocrine and want to do a fellowship in it then go for it. Everyone's dream is to find something that they love and get paid for it. Good luck in the future.

Easier said than done! I'm weighing a few fields in mind not just endocrine so the income potential is important especially when you are talking about paying off loans. If an endocrinologist is basically performing the same duties as internist for not much more pay, I don't know if it's worth wasting two-three more years in fellowship when I could be out practicing and living my life.

 

[SmallTownGuy]

I just think that you should imagine what you would like your life to be like and what you want to do, regardless of salary. The lowest paid specialty will provide you with enough income to pay off your loans. llJust keep a couple things in mind:

1. The higher paid specialties (in general) are higher paid for a reason. They mean more call, more work in general. You may not have time to spend all that money that you are making.

2. In any specialty, you can make higher (or lower) than expected salary depending on how much you want to work and take call. For example, I know an FP who grossed over a million dollars last year. He owns his own clinic, and uses two PAs, and a NP. Does a lot of occupational medicine. He was willing to invest in a lot of equipment, and is now reaping the rewards. The salaries that you see on this forums are usually flawed in the since that the usually include lots of HMO docs, who work for lower pay. Even residents are included in these surveys sometimes, that drags the prices down.

3. Also, even if you go with the average salaries, they will fluctuate with time. For example, years ago opthamologists were being reimbursed $1600 for refractory surgery. Now it is about 500 and expected to go lower. If you choose one field over another based on income potential, you may be disappointed later. Go with what you enjoy and you will never be let down.

In short, I do agree that income potential is something to consider, I just think that it should be far down on the differential. In my opinion, the nature of the work, lifestyle, practice setting are all things that should be looked at before money.

 

[novacek88]

bump

 

[vitaminjb]

No matter what you do as a doctor, you will be making enough money to live very comfortably. It might not be prudent to be driving a BMW during intern year, and it's certainly not the time of the doctor having three boats and a summer house in the bahamas, but you will never have to worry about eating, paying your bills, or even going on some nice vacations. This is much like the discussion about whether to do academics or private practice; you will certainly make PLENTY of money in private practice regardless of what you do. You also have tons of time to make a decision about subspecialty. When you are in your rotations during med school (i don't know how far in your training you are) and when you do your first year in internal med, you will see the spectrum of what the subspecialties have to offer and you can decide if endocrine is right for you.

 

[HussainGQ]

Would a physician have the potential to make more than 100 grand as an endocrinologist at an academic institution?