Happiest doctors: in what specialty?

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thank god derm was good.
 
uclaussr said:
What specialty has the happiest doctors?
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http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...est&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

"In a 2002 survey study done by J. Paul Leigh et all, using perceived satisfaction by Family Medicine docs as the baseline, here are the specialties that were found to be most likely to be highly satisfying, in a descending order:"

- Geriatric medicine
- Neonatal - Perinatal Medicine
- Cardiothoracic Surgery
- Dermatology
- Pediatrics

😀
 
g8orlife said:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...est&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

"In a 2002 survey study done by J. Paul Leigh et all, using perceived satisfaction by Family Medicine docs as the baseline, here are the specialties that were found to be most likely to be highly satisfying, in a descending order:"

- Geriatric medicine
- Neonatal - Perinatal Medicine
- Cardiothoracic Surgery
- Dermatology
- Pediatrics

😀
Click to expand...

Alwaysaangel's link is probably more accurate. This was an old study, so CTS is probably not up there anymore.
 
Top Ten specialties from table five of the aforementioned study.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/9/166
Pediatric emergency medicine
Geriatric medicine
Other pediatric subspecialty
Neonatal and perinatal medicine
Internal medicine and pediatrics
Pediatrics
Dermatology
Child and adolescent psychiatry
Allergy and immunology
Cardiovascular diseases
 
neurosurgery






























1243271414_black_guy_laughing.gif
 
What about Emergency Medicine? I though ER docs were always happy because its "shift work" and they are never on call. The ones I've met seem really happy, even as residents...
 
plzNOCarribbean said:
What about Emergency Medicine? I though ER docs were always happy because its "shift work" and they are never on call. The ones I've met seem really happy, even as residents...
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yep ER is nice. 36 hour work week generally, often 3 days a week. Trade off is possibly stranger hours and working some vacations. Also in the 12 hour shift, they are working pretty much the entire time, so work itself is not laid-back at all, as you have almost no downtime between patients.

There is the perception among the public and other physicians that EM has a high "burnout", but almost every attending or resident on this board has refuted that notion.
 
plzNOCarribbean said:
What about Emergency Medicine? I though ER docs were always happy because its "shift work" and they are never on call. The ones I've met seem really happy, even as residents...
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They may be happy but are not the happiest. I can see many sources of dissatisfaction for an EM physician.

They're working on holidays, weekends, and nights. They may have no call but the times at which they work are very undesirable. You also have many patients coming into the ER and treating it as a primary care facility and you get many addicts coming in for pain meds.
 
Kaushik said:
Supposedly they have a very high rate of burnout...
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Someone in this thread already mentioned it but multiple studies have disproven that.

There was some evidence early on that doctors didn't work in the ED for long, however those were non-EM trained docs working in EDs. Multiple studies of the first EM trained docs from 40 years ago show no increased burn-out or early retirement compared to other specialties.
 
alwaysaangel said:
Someone in this thread already mentioned it but multiple studies have disproven that.

There was some evidence early on that doctors didn't work in the ED for long, however those were non-EM trained docs working in EDs. Multiple studies of the first EM trained docs from 40 years ago show no increased burn-out or early retirement compared to other specialties.
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In that case, feel free to ignore my comment! I stand corrected. 😳
 
You can do all the "studies" with happiness you want. The happiest doc is the one that picked their specialty out of true interest and passion rather than feeling like they are "too good" to go into it or it not making enough money.

I've also seen specialties where happiness plateaued at around 200-250k and not 400k, so it all depends how they do it, what they ask, when they ask, where they ask.

When you talk about happiness, you also have to look at the general personalities of the people involved. I'm yet to meet someone who wasn't sunshiny go into peds. Derm always seemed to attract a similar kind of happy go-lucky person as well. They MAY have been happier individuals before even going into the specialty. Me, I'm a bitter, pessimistic a-hole, so surgery may be a great fit.
 
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I don't think geriatrics and pediatrics makes people happy, I think people who go into geriatrics and pediatrics are happy, easy-going people to begin with. This has been my experience when getting to know people who work with these two populations. On top of that, you're working with generally upbeat/neutral, easy going people, the very young and very mature. My best work/volunteer experiences have come from working with children and older adults. I like working with kids cause they're fun to be around. You get to be a kid all over again. 😀 I really wish pediatrics paid more. It would be my number one choice if the pay wasn't so low. However, I have been seeing souther CA jobs starting at 200k for the first year and then 150k after. I just wonder what the hours and call are like. I've also been seeing ped jobs that are M-F, 9-5, no call and no weekends, or 7 days on and 7 days off (26 vacation every year!), but those jobs never list the salary. I think it would be worth it though even if is was around 140k/year.

WingedOx said:
oh just wait until you get the triple whammy: 300+ lbs, menstruating, speaks no english.

/yet whenever I mention ophtho to a gyn resident, they always say 'ewww, eyes are gross!"
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It's kind of ironic that someone that delivers gooey, alien looking babies into the world would think that an eye ball is gross.
 
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WingedOx said:
oh just wait until you get the triple whammy: 300+ lbs, menstruating, speaks no english.

/yet whenever I mention ophtho to a gyn resident, they always say 'ewww, eyes are gross!"
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:hello: Eyeballs freak me right the hell out and Ob/Gyn has always been one of my top thoughts as a specialty. Ophtho is pretty much the only thing I'm sure I WON'T go into.

g8orlife said:
No.
Read the links posted above: Ob/Gyn = UNhappy.🙁
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It's weird because I've spoken to a lot more unhappy surgeons and IM subspecialists than Ob/Gyns. Most of them seem pretty satisfied with their job.

ILikeDrugs said:
It's kind of ironic that someone that delivers gooey, alien looking babies into the world would think that an eye ball is gross.
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:hello: again.
 
how is plastics not satisfying, can someone reveal the truth. Tv makes it so glamorous ;p
 
ILikeDrugs said:
I don't think geriatrics and pediatrics makes people happy, I think people who go into geriatrics and pediatrics are happy, easy-going people to begin with. This has been my experience when getting to know people who work with these two populations. On top of that, you're working with generally upbeat/neutral, easy going people, the very young and very mature. My best work/volunteer experiences have come from working with children and older adults. I like working with kids cause they're fun to be around. You get to be a kid all over again. 😀 I really wish pediatrics paid more. It would be my number one choice if the pay wasn't so low. However, I have been seeing souther CA jobs starting at 200k for the first year and then 150k after. I just wonder what the hours and call are like. I've also been seeing ped jobs that are M-F, 9-5, no call and no weekends, or 7 days on and 7 days off (26 vacation every year!), but those jobs never list the salary. I think it would be worth it though even if is was around 140k/year.


It's kind of ironic that someone that delivers gooey, alien looking babies into the world would think that an eye ball is gross.
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😕 You've seen jobs where physicians take a 50K pay-cut after the first year?
 
patel2 said:
😕 You've seen jobs where physicians take a 50K pay-cut after the first year?
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Think of it as like a $150K salary with a $50K signing bonus, to pay down debt, buy a car, etc. I'm not familiar with this personally, but I suspect it's something like that.
 
Go here http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/RESIDENT/CareerCounseling/interior.htm?self-assessment.htm and click on Specialty Profiles. Each specialty has a pdf with average responses to a bunch of questions, as well as individual docs' short answer responses to several questions. This is definitely the most helpful thing I've found so far. In general, it seems like docs who chose their field because they liked it are generally happy, but some fields (like obgyn) have a lot of docs who regret their choice because of the hours or some other negative aspect.
 
I would imagine the happiest doctors are in the fields that pay the most with the best schedules (dermatology, mainly.)
 
circulus vitios said:
I would imagine the happiest doctors are in the fields that pay the most with the best schedules (dermatology, mainly.)
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Ophthalmology invalidates that theory. IMO, it comes down to the patient population and how grateful/satisfied the patients are with what you have done for them.

I think a lot of dermatologists find satisfaction in the fact that they can successfully treat or manage most of the skin conditions that they see. These skin conditions aren't only a health issue, but a self-esteem issue as well. So being able to treat these conditions improves the patients self-image in addition to the medical issue.
 
muhali3 said:
Ophthalmology invalidates that theory. IMO, it comes down to the patient population and how grateful/satisfied the patients are with what you have done for them.

I think a lot of dermatologists find satisfaction in the fact that they can successfully treat or manage most of the skin conditions that they see. These skin conditions aren't only a health issue, but a self-esteem issue as well. So being able to treat these conditions improves the patients self-image in addition to the medical issue.
Click to expand...

opthamology salaries have steadily declined. New opthamlogists often earn 150-200 K first year, and it can be very difficult to achieve partner status. I think part of the dissatisfaction is that for those in the field a long time, the glory days are over.
 
circulus vitios said:
I would imagine the happiest doctors are in the fields that pay the most with the best schedules (dermatology, mainly.)
Click to expand...

Also, geriatric med invalidates that theory. Geriatricians are barely paid more than FPs, but they have been among the top 10 happiest for the past 15 years.
 
MossPoh said:
You can do all the "studies" with happiness you want. The happiest doc is the one that picked their specialty out of true interest and passion rather than feeling like they are "too good" to go into it or it not making enough money.

I've also seen specialties where happiness plateaued at around 200-250k and not 400k, so it all depends how they do it, what they ask, when they ask, where they ask.

When you talk about happiness, you also have to look at the general personalities of the people involved. I'm yet to meet someone who wasn't sunshiny go into peds. Derm always seemed to attract a similar kind of happy go-lucky person as well. They MAY have been happier individuals before even going into the specialty. Me, I'm a bitter, pessimistic a-hole, so surgery may be a great fit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Table 2 of the research study actually showed that the happiest salary range was the (>$300 k income group) followed by the ($200-$249 k income group) ... So, this begs the question: What's up with the ($250-$299 k income group)?? .... Are they bitter that they couldn't be part of the 300 club??🙄
 
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