I give up. Tell me what to do.

[J.Rom]

Rads vs. Derm vs. Ophtho vs. ENT.

Ok, obviously since I'm posting this in the Radiology forum I must have some tendency towards Rads. Did anyone consider these other specialties? What made you go against them? Here are my thoughts:

Rads: I think I'd be pretty good at this. I have good spacial awareness and pattern recognition abilities. I work and think very fast and could probably burn through films at a pretty good clip. I love that it's technology driven and has unlimited potential for growth and development. I love that it is a portable career, you can pick up and move pretty much anywhere and start working right away. I love that you are insulated from patients when you want to be but can have patient contact if you desire. I like that you can do procedures if you want. I like the compensation and possibility of working from home (or anywhere). I do not like the idea of sitting in the dark. I don't like the lack of autonomy. What else do you not like about Rads?

Derm: To be honest I haven't had much exposure to Derm and it really just sounds great on paper. I have good numbers and could probably match in Derm, just not in a geographically desirable location. I like the possibility of a cash-only practice. Who knows if that will ever be an issue, but I like the security. Anyone decide against Derm based on anything besides that it was too competitive?

Ophtho: I like the idea of a mix of office visits and surgery. I like that you have a pathway to elective procedures (LASIK and occuloplastics). I like that it's more procedures than Rads. I like that you are in the light more often. I like that you are essential autonomous and not entirely beholden to referring doctors. I don't like that I can make a lot more doing Radiology.

ENT: Cool surgeries. Great variety. More laid back than general or ortho. Similar advantages to Ophtho, but a longer residency with that one year of general surgery involved (yuck!). Pathway to elective procedures (Plastics).

OK, I kind of petered out there at the end with my reasons, but I got tired of typing. Does anyone have any thoughts about these specialties? Obviously I'm concerned about lifestyle and I don't like inpatient medicine. At all.

Many thanks.

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[OHMAN0125]

Rads vs. Derm vs. Ophtho vs. ENT.

Ok, obviously since I'm posting this in the Radiology forum I must have some tendency towards Rads. Did anyone consider these other specialties? What made you go against them? Here are my thoughts:

Rads: I think I'd be pretty good at this. I have good spacial awareness and pattern recognition abilities. I work and think very fast and could probably burn through films at a pretty good clip. I love that it's technology driven and has unlimited potential for growth and development. I love that it is a portable career, you can pick up and move pretty much anywhere and start working right away. I love that you are insulated from patients when you want to be but can have patient contact if you desire. I like that you can do procedures if you want. I like the compensation and possibility of working from home (or anywhere). I do not like the idea of sitting in the dark. I don't like the lack of autonomy. What else do you not like about Rads?

Derm: To be honest I haven't had much exposure to Derm and it really just sounds great on paper. I have good numbers and could probably match in Derm, just not in a geographically desirable location. I like the possibility of a cash-only practice. Who knows if that will ever be an issue, but I like the security. Anyone decide against Derm based on anything besides that it was too competitive?

Ophtho: I like the idea of a mix of office visits and surgery. I like that you have a pathway to elective procedures (LASIK and occuloplastics). I like that it's more procedures than Rads. I like that you are in the light more often. I like that you are essential autonomous and not entirely beholden to referring doctors. I don't like that I can make a lot more doing Radiology.

ENT: Cool surgeries. Great variety. More laid back than general or ortho. Similar advantages to Ophtho, but a longer residency with that one year of general surgery involved (yuck!). Pathway to elective procedures (Plastics).

OK, I kind of petered out there at the end with my reasons, but I got tired of typing. Does anyone have any thoughts about these specialties? Obviously I'm concerned about lifestyle and I don't like inpatient medicine. At all.

Many thanks.

That's alot of fields to think about. Hopefully ur not a MS3. It's getting pretty late to still have 4 choices. If ur looking for money, in general Rads is the highest right now for these 4 fields. Of course Derm and ENT are really high if all you do is cosmetics, especially Derm if you decide to endorse some Chanel products or something. Optho is also really high if u do retina. But on avg Rads is more at this point in time.
If you want patient contact and autonomy then do not go into radiology. That would be shooting urself in the foot. Do derm or ENT in that case.
Lifestyle for these fields are all very good from what I know. For me I did think about maybe optho or ent but realized that I just didnt enjoy that part of the organ/body that much. As much as i wanted to like Derm, I couldnt, I just couldnt see myself opening a spa or giving people anti-aging creams even if i made bank. And i certainly didnt want to just look at dermatitis, acne, etc all day. I'd rather look at my computer all day (but I have always been a computer/techie so take it with a grain of salt). Also I like to be able to goto the bathroom when i want and eat when i want.

 

[hans19]

Rads vs. Derm vs. Ophtho vs. ENT.
.

I rads was my top pick as a medical student. I was ecstatic to have matched in radiology. Now, as I am completing my residency, looking back, I have absolutely no regrets about picking rads.

Its a fascinating fields that covers ALL aspects of medicine, currently I'm reviewing OB ultrasound. But I have to know everything from rare brain tumors to ankle sprains. We image patients from the fetal stage right up to centenarians. I know about all the organ systems and can tie it all together. I can talk shop with just about any specialist.

There are incredible diagnostic tools at our disposal. I have seen cardiac MR and CTA become prime time. I like doing 3d Recons of MRs and CTs to help clinicians solve problems. Radiology is STILL fascinating to me.

In the future I'll be doing IR, so I WONT be in the dark all day. During my residency, IR has been my most enjoyable rotation. I've had a lot of fun helping embolize complex tumors, stop a bleeder, create a TIPS, stent arteries, drain pus, open up clotted dialysis grafts, biopsy hard to get to lesions. I love what I do.

The job market is still great. I've just landed my dream job, the one I've dreamed about since I was a pre-med, and I haven't even begun my fellowship, let alone finish my residency.

If you go to aunt minnie, you will find a lot of whiners. For some reason a good number of them flock to Radiology, but I think these are the people likely to whine no matter what specialty they picked, and these are probably the ones that went into radiology chasing only the lifestyle and money. Talk to any of the regular contributers to this rads forum, those that have finished like FW or the ones in various stages of training an overwhelming number would agree that they are happy doing radiology.

Now more than ever, I can say that I love radiology! Radiology is not for everyone, but if you go into it for the right reasons, you will be well rewarded.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[J.Rom]

OK, good stuff so far, thanks for the replies! (though honestly I was expecting more from ApacheIndian. C'mon, sell it, man! ).
Anyway, unfortunately I am an MS-3. Yeah, it sucks to be so undecided at this point.
So, IR. I was really jazzed about IR until some of the older docs started harping on about radiation exposure and how I would be giving myself cancer and killing my unborn children and blah blah. You worry about that at all? Also, how much of a lifestyle hit are you taking by going the IR route?

So I'm liking the stuff about Radiology still being fascinating and having to be well versed in so many areas and going toe-to-toe with the other specialists. Makes me feel macho. Right on! Do you feel like you get second-guessed a lot by the other specialists on your readings, though? I'm rotating in surgery right now and I realize that those guys think they are the only real doctors in the joint, but it seems like they don't trust the radiologists on their readings much. What kind of relationship do you have with other docs in the hospital?

Man, they do whine a lot at auntminnie, don't they? Now that I think about it, about the time when I found that forum is when I started to rethink Radiology. So they aren't representative, huh?

 

[discontinuebed]

ENT's not a terrible choice if you feel you absolutely must cut. Urology's another one. But neither offer the flexibility of rads -- in terms of geography and scalability that is.

Great post, one additional question. I've always heard ortho is decent too in terms of lifestyle/salary among the surgical sub-specialties once one is actually an attending. (Still not anywhere near the flexibility of rads of course)

 

[OHMAN0125]

Great post, one additional question. I've always heard ortho is decent too in terms of lifestyle/salary among the surgical sub-specialties once one is actually an attending. (Still not anywhere near the flexibility of rads of course)

From what I hear ortho is more dependent on the group you are with. If you take trauma, are you only sports medicine, how many ppl in the practice, spine surgery, etc. This has been talked about on the ortho forum a good deal in the past.
Lifestyle for surg fields would probably be ENT=UROLOGY>>>Ortho in general. Dont forget that for surgical fields your reimbursement is based on how many OR cases you do. So to make more money, ur lifestyle will likely be bad. Especially if medicare cuts surgical procedures more and more, it will be very hard to add additional OR cases to generate the same amount of income. But if you dont care about making less, then I believe that you can find a cush job in any surgical field later on.

 

[hans19]

Agreed. Sure ortho residency is brutal, but admittedly one can do only scopes or joints or sports after that and the lifestyle/money ratio is quite good in all of those. Or you could do spine and break 7 digits. And again, the patient population is generally better. BIG PLUS: Not too many gomers. Gomers have bigger fish to fry than torn RC's or knee DJD... they are TSFO and go straight to the medicine and surgery suckers.

Sounds like you are lifting quotes straight out of Polk's 'The medical students Survival guide', an out of print, very cynical mostly satirical book about medicine in the guise of a guide book.

It talks all about the downs and outs in medicine, medschool, residency and beyond. Read it, but read it critically. Don't take everything he says at face value. There are some good points in that book, however.

 

[hans19]

The Medical Student's Survival Guide is unequivocally the best book ever written about the medical specialties. What's really amazing to me is how prescient Polk's insights were when he wrote it -- what -- like 13 years ago? I em endebted to Steven Polk for telling it like it is -- he was on the money.

Hans you're cute you know -- the always PC Mod -- you're like a politician -- you say whatever you need to to not make waves and garner the popular (even if ignorant and uninformed) vote. It's clear to me that you lack real-world experience and insight. Whatever, to each his own -- there's plenty of mediocre docs/radiologists out there -- join the ranks, no skin off my back.

Yes Mr. PGY5, you have soooo much more experience than me. Please tell this PGY-5 what I'm missing?

PS. Did that real world experience guide you into a cardiac imaging fellowship?

 

[fun8stuff]

Hehe you really are cute... I wanna pinch your cheeks!

This PG-5 has done more locums and made more money this year already then you will your first year out. And sensing a changing market I have decided not to do that fellowship. But alas, I'm not going to reveal all of my master plans to you -- you'll see them in headlines in a couple years don't worry. You just continue being a big bad Mod and publishing your bogus research. I know plenty of guys like you Hans -- you're not a bad guy, you're just... average. Nothing wrong with that -- by definition most people are average -- as long as you're a productive member of society it's fine by me.

peace

you guys are hilarious

 

[drivesmecraazee]

hehe -- o.k. here's the deal:

ENT's not a terrible choice if you feel you absolutely must cut. Urology's another one. But neither offer the flexibility of rads -- in terms of geography and scalability that is.

peace

Dude could you explain this one to me, english isn't my first language since Im hispanic (thank GOD...haha just kidding, nothing against americans..). I tought that when you used the expresion "must cut", you meant to operate.
Im interested in ENT, IR and IM with a Nephrology fellowship, I know, I know, Im aware of all the crap involved in IM but still, not ready to let my nerd side die just like that (loved renal physiology).

By the way, I agree with most of your post, what you said about Ophtalmology is true, it sucks, but hey if there is people who enjoyed that's their problem...I mean, decision.... What's with ortho? It seems pretty boring to me.

 

[OHMAN0125]

Dude could you explain this one to me, english isn't my first language since Im hispanic (thank GOD...haha just kidding, nothing against americans..). I tought that when you used the expresion "must cut", you meant to operate.
Im interested in ENT, IR and IM with a Nephrology fellowship, I know, I know, Im aware of all the crap involved in IM but still, not ready to let my nerd side die just like that (loved renal physiology).

By the way, I agree with most of your post, what you said about Ophtalmology is true, it sucks, but hey if there is people who enjoyed that's their problem...I mean, decision.... What's with ortho? It seems pretty boring to me.

That's what he meant i believe. Ortho's not boring, but its patient population may not be the best in my opinion, unless u do peds or sports med. Many of the patients have chronic joint pain issues. Also the surgeries are just crazy. Joint replacements and hip replacements (the big money surgeries) are just nasty to me. It's like human butchering.

 

[DrGregoryHouse]

The Medical Student's Survival Guide is unequivocally the best book ever written about the medical specialties. What's really amazing to me is how prescient Polk's insights were when he wrote it -- what -- like 13 years ago? I em endebted to Steven Polk for telling it like it is -- he was on the money.

Pretty much based on Hans, Apache, and some other reviews, I decided to buy this book for 6$ at a used book store. I have the third edition over 15 years old, and Polk was almost prophetic in his predictions. His analysis of the specialties is uniformly cynical and accurate. Priceless wisdom throughout. Excellent buy.

 

[medgator]

IR is perfect for guys like you b/c it truly does offer the best of both worlds -- meaningful, yet brief, patient interactions where you make a HUGE difference

I would def add rad onc to that list. It's a specialty that most med students seem to just gloss over (although that has changed significantly over the past 5-8 yrs).

You get meaningful pt. contact (long-term also), but you arent a PCP, but a consultant. You help patients through one of the most gut-wrenching parts of their life and the majority of the cases you do are curative in nature. When you cant cure, you can offer effective palliation.

It's very imaging-based, but not as stressful as rads IMO --- the malpractice aspect is much better. The field is outpatient-based. Plus our call beats rads call any day of the week Call is home call with a beeper, and there are just a handful of situations that may call for emergent RT.

I walk out of clinic every day knowing that I could NOT have done anything else in medicine after tasting the sweet, sweet nectar of rad onc. I feel great about what I do, and I get home every day by 6 PM (or earlier) generally. Having the weekends to yourself is a big plus. Seriously --- even on a busy day, I am like, wow, this is a SWEET field. You get to treat cancer M-F, 8-5 and occasionally on the weekends.

The best part is that it is a clinical. Despite what apache may think, cancer patients are some of the nicest patients you'll ever work with and a far cry (generally) from the IM patient population. The caveats to this is that it IS clinical, and you have to be comfortable working with patients who are sometimes terminal. Although much of the bad news of the inital diagnosis is made by the primary team/medical oncologist, you will deliver a fair amount of "bad" news during your practice and thus must be comfortable with this.

Lay people have this idea that rads and rad onc are similar, but having rotated through both, I wouldnt do rads in a millions years. I find sitting in front a screen all day reading images so boring (along with draining pus out of people's abscesses). Rad onc uses imaging to localize tumors. You are an oncologist who uses radiation (rather than a heme/onc that uses chemo). You have to well-versed with the breadth of oncology so you can understand when RT is indicated (and when it is not). You also have to know the appropriate staging/workup for a wide variety of oncologic diagnoses. It's a very evidence-based field. There are also opportunities for trips to the OR for various brachytherapy procedures (prostate seeds for prostate CA, brachy for head and neck, cervix, sarcoma, etc.)

Rads is a great specialty, but if you'd like something more clinical, check out rad onc.

 

[hans19]

Rads is a great specialty, but if you'd like something more clinical, check out rad onc.

Absolutely. Agree with above. Rad-onc is a great field as well!

 

[Strength&Speed]

OK, good stuff so far, thanks for the replies! (though honestly I was expecting more from ApacheIndian. C'mon, sell it, man! ).
Anyway, unfortunately I am an MS-3. Yeah, it sucks to be so undecided at this point.
So, IR. I was really jazzed about IR until some of the older docs started harping on about radiation exposure and how I would be giving myself cancer and killing my unborn children and blah blah. You worry about that at all? Also, how much of a lifestyle hit are you taking by going the IR route?

So I'm liking the stuff about Radiology still being fascinating and having to be well versed in so many areas and going toe-to-toe with the other specialists. Makes me feel macho. Right on! Do you feel like you get second-guessed a lot by the other specialists on your readings, though? I'm rotating in surgery right now and I realize that those guys think they are the only real doctors in the joint, but it seems like they don't trust the radiologists on their readings much. What kind of relationship do you have with other docs in the hospital?

Man, they do whine a lot at auntminnie, don't they? Now that I think about it, about the time when I found that forum is when I started to rethink Radiology. So they aren't representative, huh?

Honestly, i was in a similar postion to you as a MS3. I'd pick rads. My next best choice would be ent or gas.

 

[Strength&Speed]

I would def add rad onc to that list. It's a specialty that most med students seem to just gloss over (although that has changed significantly over the past 5-8 yrs).

You get meaningful pt. contact (long-term also), but you arent a PCP, but a consultant. You help patients through one of the most gut-wrenching parts of their life and the majority of the cases you do are curative in nature. When you cant cure, you can offer effective palliation.

It's very imaging-based, but not as stressful as rads IMO --- the malpractice aspect is much better. The field is outpatient-based. Plus our call beats rads call any day of the week Call is home call with a beeper, and there are just a handful of situations that may call for emergent RT.

I walk out of clinic every day knowing that I could NOT have done anything else in medicine after tasting the sweet, sweet nectar of rad onc. I feel great about what I do, and I get home every day by 6 PM (or earlier) generally. Having the weekends to yourself is a big plus. Seriously --- even on a busy day, I am like, wow, this is a SWEET field. You get to treat cancer M-F, 8-5 and occasionally on the weekends.

The best part is that it is a clinical. Despite what apache may think, cancer patients are some of the nicest patients you'll ever work with and a far cry (generally) from the IM patient population. The caveats to this is that it IS clinical, and you have to be comfortable working with patients who are sometimes terminal. Although much of the bad news of the inital diagnosis is made by the primary team/medical oncologist, you will deliver a fair amount of "bad" news during your practice and thus must be comfortable with this.

Lay people have this idea that rads and rad onc are similar, but having rotated through both, I wouldnt do rads in a millions years. I find sitting in front a screen all day reading images so boring (along with draining pus out of people's abscesses). Rad onc uses imaging to localize tumors. You are an oncologist who uses radiation (rather than a heme/onc that uses chemo). You have to well-versed with the breadth of oncology so you can understand when RT is indicated (and when it is not). You also have to know the appropriate staging/workup for a wide variety of oncologic diagnoses. It's a very evidence-based field. There are also opportunities for trips to the OR for various brachytherapy procedures (prostate seeds for prostate CA, brachy for head and neck, cervix, sarcoma, etc.)

Rads is a great specialty, but if you'd like something more clinical, check out rad onc.

Goddamn gator, you may be on to something. I love palliation, frankly thats my favorite part of medicine. Unfortunately, it'd be what....4 more years?

 

[medgator]

Goddamn gator, you may be on to something. I love palliation, frankly thats my favorite part of medicine. Unfortunately, it'd be what....4 more years?

Rads and Rad Onc have the exact same residency length. 1 yr for the internship and 4 yrs for training.

In the current situation, most rad onc residents dont pursue a fellowship, but this does not seem to be the case with diagnostic rads.

 

[CherokeeIndian]

Rads and Rad Onc have the exact same residency length. 1 yr for the internship and 4 yrs for training.

In the current situation, most rad onc residents don't pursue a fellowship, but this does not seem to be the case with diagnostic rads.

That is fine, but you will only make half what you would make as a radiologist and get 1/4-1/2 the vacation time. Most rad oncs will avg $200-250k with 3-4 weeks off per year and still have to go in when they are on call. My on call consists of walking downstairs to the basement, turning the computer on, and watching southpark on the side. My only other beef with radonc was that there was no diagnosis and not a lot of thinking involved. Most of the time, the patients come in diagnosed by the referring heme/oncs and the radonc would look up (most of the time they wouldn't need to look it up though because they were seeing the same old stuff over and over) treatment and write orders for the techs to follow.

 

[medgator]

That is fine, but you will only make half what you would make as a radiologist and get 1/4-1/2 the vacation time. Most rad oncs will avg $200-250k with 3-4 weeks off per year and still have to go in when they are on call. My on call consists of walking downstairs to the basement, turning the computer on, and watching southpark on the side. My only other beef with radonc was that there was no diagnosis and not a lot of thinking involved. Most of the time, the patients come in diagnosed by the referring heme/oncs and the radonc would look up (most of the time they wouldn't need to look it up though because they were seeing the same old stuff over and over) treatment and write orders for the techs to follow.

Are you kidding? That's a starting salary and can go up rapidly within 3 yrs after being at a practice. If you become partner, it can be upwards of 500K+. Not that it's about the money anyways. I enjoy the field I've gone into and hours/comp is just a bonus. In addition, rad onc call (in residency) is 10 times better than rads call. Rad onc call in private practice is probably even easier. If all you care about is money, and not patients, maybe it is a good thing that you went in to rads.

There's a lot of critical thinking in rad onc ---- you have to know tolerances to organs, and try to evaluate plans that will give you a good dose while trying to avoid morbidity. You have to know when surg/chemo etc. is indicated and you have to be comfortable looking at PET, MRI, CT, plain films etc. You have to know lymph drainages for many different sites as this becomes important in designing your fields.

Rads was pretty boring to me as all you do in bread and butter radiology is read film all day.

 

[hans19]

Rads was pretty boring to me as all you do in bread and butter radiology is read film all day.

Bread and butter radiology? What is that? In private practice everyone reads everything. If you've come out of residency in the last 5 years, you better know how to read Brain MRs, Spine MRs, Knees, nucs as well as body studies. If theres a tough case you consult the subspecialty trained guy. As far as IR, its not about just about draining pus. Thats only one aspect of what we do. And if you consider the treatment used to be open surgery, its not a bad thing for patients.

As far as oncology, we are involved in every step of the way from the imaging to look for the primary mass to the image guided biopsy, to placing the chemo port. We also do RFA and chemoembolization to treat unresectable solid tumors. We place palliating stents as well.
Nothing boring about that!

We don't need to bad mouth each other for one of us to come out on top. Both rads and rad onc are great fields! Do the field that interests you most.

 

[keye]

dont get fooled by the starting ophtho salaries, most are in the upper 100s but 2 years in it jumps to 350s, ill work 4 days a week for that.
It is also going have the most growth in demand (inc 30%) over the next 20 years while ENT will have the slowest at around 12% due to their demographics.

 

[medgator]

Bread and butter radiology? What is that? In private practice everyone reads everything. If you've come out of residency in the last 5 years, you better no how to read Brain MRs, Spine MRs, Knees, nucs. If theres a tough case you consult the neurofellowship trained guy. As far as IR, its not about draining pus. Thats only one aspect of what we do. And if you consider the treatment used to be open surgery, its not a bad thing for patients.

As far as oncology, we are involved in every step of the way from the imaging to look for the primary mass to the image guided biopsy, to placing the chemo port. We also do combined RFA and chemoembolization. To treat unresectable tumors. We place palliating stents as well. Nothing boring about that!

I wasn't trying to pigeonhole what rads does, but I felt a bit insulted when he mentioned that rad oncs just signs an order to tell the techs what to do. I was also letting him know that rad onc salaries aren't as low as he thinks.

I've spent time in rads rotations and appreciate the fact that general rads have to know to read all of the modalities well. I also appreciate that IR does a lot of onc wrt to chemoembo and RFA (also done by thoracic guys). Rads are rad onc are both great fields, and definitely some of the best fields in medicine today. If you really like imaging, but dont care for (or just want mininal) patient contact, then rads is a good choice. If oncology and seeing patients in clinic interests you, and you still like the imaging aspects of rads, rad onc may be a better fit. I love the onc and pt care aspects of rad onc, and I def. could not do diagnostic rads because of that.

 

[AK_MD2BE]

Despite the radiology vs. radiologic oncology debate, a few people on this thread have mentioned Anesthesiology as a good field to go into? Why? (I am not saying that in a derogatory manner, just curious) Thanks.

 

[Mariah246]

Despite the radiology vs. radiologic oncology debate, a few people on this thread have mentioned Anesthesiology as a good field to go into? Why? (I am not saying that in a derogatory manner, just curious) Thanks.

The same reasons everyone spouts

Decent work hours (NOT controllable lifestyle in this case as there are invariably going to be weekends and holidays worked), decent pay, instant physiologic responses to interventions (some people like seeing this), no primary care long-term patient hassles

I'm a little hesitant about anesthesiology because in my mind, if a CRNA can perform similar tasks, I'd worry about pay being slashed so that a anesthesiologist would start making closer to what a CRNA makes.

Or conversely, CRNA's continuing to gain strides in what they can do independently.

Sidenote: I am not at all knowledgeable about the downsides of the field of anesthesia. Those are simply the thoughts churning through my head and there's a very solid chance it's completely false.

 

[anotherhopeful]

The same reasons everyone spouts

Decent work hours (NOT controllable lifestyle in this case as there are invariably going to be weekends and holidays worked), decent pay, instant physiologic responses to interventions (some people like seeing this), no primary care long-term patient hassles

I'm a little hesitant about anesthesiology because in my mind, if a CRNA can perform similar tasks, I'd worry about pay being slashed so that a anesthesiologist would start making closer to what a CRNA makes.

Or conversely, CRNA's continuing to gain strides in what they can do independently.

Sidenote: I am not at all knowledgeable about the downsides of the field of anesthesia. Those are simply the thoughts churning through my head and there's a very solid chance it's completely false.

those are my sentiments exactly, but i am also just a lowly med student. although, after hearing about a few "incidents" in the OR that required a code being called and having some of my fellow students see a team of anesthesiologists run in and stabilize the situation with the CRNA standing to the side looking very lost, i gotta say that the MD anesthesiologists will for sure always hold a supervising role over CRNAs. just hope that that role maintains some decent level of compensation

btw mariah, i know you were torn between gas vs. rads. have you made a decision yet?

 

[Mariah246]

btw mariah, i know you were torn between gas vs. rads. have you made a decision yet?

I'm leaning towards radiology. I like working with my hands and I think I did a satisfactory job during my anesthesia rotation but it just isn't a strength (sadly). I'm a bit better at visual items, pattern recognition and I figured IR allows for some hands-on work as well.

That being said, I am a bit concerned about a couple of items in radiology.
1) Dropping reimbursements (who isn't, right? )
2) Inability to practice solo (a bit of a stupid reason, but I have family members in radiology and disputes with co-workers/political hassles within the group are certainly items that can dampen one's happiness...there's a whole new subset of problems as a solo practitioner but in the end, we all know who gets the final word)
3) Overall dissatisfaction. Despite the encroachment of CRNA's on their turf, most anesthesiologists I know are fairly happy and are on congenial terms with the CRNA's. It seems like quite a few of the radiologists I've worked with have something to nitpick about: increasing hours, decreasing pay, lack of the option to resort to cash-based practice, encroachment from other fields, self-referral. In the grand scheme of things, I understand everyone, no matter how perfect the field, will find something to nitpick at. I guess I was just a little concerned at how prevalent this was.

 

[hans19]

That being said, I am a bit concerned about a couple of items in radiology.
1) Dropping reimbursements (who isn't, right? )

Everyone, except for primary care, is taking a hit. But its easier for a radiologist to read 20 extra films per day to make up the difference, than a surgeon to add on one extra case per day.

2) Inability to practice solo (a bit of a stupid reason, but I have family members in radiology and disputes with co-workers/political hassles within the group are certainly items that can dampen one's happiness...there's a whole new subset of problems as a solo practitioner but in the end, we all know who gets the final word.

There are a few solo practitioners that frequent this board. They are their own boss. They work as hard as they want and earn every penny they make. They don't have to worry about money being siphoned off to lazy partners. But that also means covering their own call and vacations with nighthawk telerads, out of their own pockets. Maybe some of these folks can give their own opinions.

3) Overall dissatisfaction. It seems like quite a few of the radiologists I've worked with have something to nitpick about: increasing hours, decreasing pay, lack of the option to resort to cash-based practice, encroachment from other fields, self-referral. In the grand scheme of things, I understand everyone, no matter how perfect the field, will find something to nitpick at. I guess I was just a little concerned at how prevalent this was.

If you go into a field justfor the money -- if the money changes what do you expect?


Rads isn't perfect but its still one of the better fields out there IMO.