What other specialties did you consider and why did you pick this one?
Cardiac surgery
Chose VIR as it was less invasive and more rapid recovery for patients
What challenges will this specialty face in the next 10 years?
Separation from diagnostic radiology
Building clinics and clinical infrastructure
Increasing 100 percent VIR jobs
What are common practice settings for this specialty?
academic setting
Office based labs and ambulatory surgery centers
Hospital employees
Part of radiology group (here you will do 50/50 and mostly do minors (paracentesis/thoracentesis/biopsy/venous access/ fluid drainage )with a mix of bleeding emergencies and occasional complex elective case.
How challenging or easy is it to match in this specialty?
It is somewhat competitive
Focus on studying hard and doing well on Step 1 and Step 2
Do well on surgery and Internal medicine and try to honor as many 3rd year rotations as possible
Get 3 busy VIR aways and get some VIR letters. Try to get a strong surgical subI letter.
What excites you most about your specialty in the next 5, 10, 15 years from now?
Continued expansion of innovation. More and more role in stroke work, PE work, endoscopes, spine interventions, thyroid disease, growing role in oligomets and curative intent in cancer care. More and more ortho interventions for knee pain, shoulder pain, hip pain and even metastatic osseous lesions. So much growth. Growth of independent VIR departments and 100 parcent VIR practices separate from DR practices.
Does your specialty currently use or do you foresee the incorporation of technology such as Artificial Intelligence?
AI is used in the clinic as scribes and will likely see more of it in decision making.
What are some typical traits to be successful in this specialty? (For example, organization skills, work independently)
proactive nature. Great work ethic. Team player. Innovative spirt. Adrenaline junkie. Loves fixing problems with their hands and creativity.
What does a typical workday consist of in your specialty?
Clinic is more predictable 8 to 5 pm. Operative days are 6 or 7 am until 7 pm isa depending on case load. Call is very busy with lots of emergencies (bleeding patients, septic patients, DVT/PE/ acute limb ischemia etc), abscess drains, line placement etc.
What is the career progression for your specialty?
academics: standard progression
Private sector: Have to go build your brand and market yourself and give talks and grow your own patient panel and practice .
How has your work impacted your life dynamics? What is your work-life balance?
work life balance is difficult due to the unpredictable nature of surgeries /procedures. Emergencies come in at any time and can be disruptive. Especially when you look across the aisle to our DR colleagues who are 9 to 5 and have a very predictable schedule. Many drop out of IR during residency or later as they did not realize it was a busy surgical field.
How does healthcare policy impact your specialty?
More and more procedures will become less invasive. Technology is expensive and reimbursements take time as policy makers have to approve new devices and techniques. We as a specialty need to garner more level 1 data compared to historical gold standards to support our interventions.
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