Int. Cards vs. Neurosurgery :-)

[Surgeon Guy]

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I want to do something with procedures, and I have always loved cards and neurosurgery. I know a lot about both fields, but I have a few questions that might make me decide if I still can't.

1) How does the lifestyle compare with interventional cards vs. neurosurgery?
2) How does salary compare?
3) How does malpractice insurance compare (average)?
4) Which one has the better looking future?

Thanks for any input.

 

[nutcancer]

I want to do something with procedures, and I have always loved cards and neurosurgery. I know a lot about both fields, but I have a few questions that might make me decide if I still can't.

1) How does the lifestyle compare with interventional cards vs. neurosurgery?
2) How does salary compare?
3) How does malpractice insurance compare (average)?
4) Which one has the better looking future?

Thanks for any input.

1) IC Cards >> Neurosurgery
2) IC Cards >>> Neurosurgery
3) ?
4) IC Cards >>>>Neurosurgery

 

[Myostatin]

1) How does the lifestyle compare with interventional cards vs. neurosurgery?
2) How does salary compare?
3) How does malpractice insurance compare (average)?
4) Which one has the better looking future?

1) IC >> nsurg
2) nsurg >= ic depending on how hard you're willing to work
3) nsurg >> IC, but 2 is already taking that into account
4) hard to say, there will always be a need for both, though compensation wise neurosurg may be safer, as it is unclear what will be happening w/ angiography vs ct/mri and if there will be a reduction in stenting w/ recent studies.

the questions are, 1) do you really love nsurg enough for it to be your whole life, because you will not have a life outside of work. 2) will you enjoy being scrubbed in for 10 hrs at a time on an anerusym case? If the answers are yes, then go for it.

 

[Surgeon Guy]

1) How does the lifestyle compare with interventional cards vs. neurosurgery?
2) How does salary compare?
3) How does malpractice insurance compare (average)?
4) Which one has the better looking future?

1) IC >> nsurg
2) nsurg >= ic depending on how hard you're willing to work
3) nsurg >> IC, but 2 is already taking that into account
4) hard to say, there will always be a need for both, though compensation wise neurosurg may be safer, as it is unclear what will be happening w/ angiography vs ct/mri and if there will be a reduction in stenting w/ recent studies.

the questions are, 1) do you really love nsurg enough for it to be your whole life, because you will not have a life outside of work. 2) will you enjoy being scrubbed in for 10 hrs at a time on an anerusym case? If the answers are yes, then go for it.

Thanks for the reply, but I have to say you are incorrect on your last thing for part 2. I have spoken to a couple neurosurgeons, and they say your lifestyle is your business. If you want to work a lot, by all means. If you want to work 50 hrs/ week, again, by all means (just your salary will reflect this).

 

[H_Caulfield]

Fair enough, but realize that there are qualifying factors involved. Your lifestyle is your business IF you, basically, forfeit brain surgery. Doing nothing but elective spine surgery and hydrocephalus will get you something close to the schedule you're hoping for. Somehow I doubt you'd still be interested in neurosurgery if this were all you were going to do with it.

I recently learned that the fantastic lifestyle in ENT applies to those who do tubes and tonsils, suck out snot, etc. As soon as you add anything interesting to your practice, like head and neck cancer, you're suddenly working like a real surgeon. Just keep in mind that your patients are YOUR patients, and you won't just walk away at 6pm regardless of whether there are situations left to deal with (and with neurosurgery there always are).

You can't have your cake and eat it too, here. If you want to do REAL neurosurgery it will have to be your life. If you want to tip toe around the brain and do petty surgeries, then you can have your lifestyle. Frankly, it sounds like you just pulled up a salary chart and chose the two fields that jump out (monetarily) at everybody. Keep in mind that these salaries are based on physicians working 90 hours per week. If you want to work less you'll be excluding many things from your practice and also making less money.

 

[heartdoc345]

Just keep in mind that your patients are YOUR patients, and you won't just walk away at 6pm regardless of whether there are situations left to deal with (and with neurosurgery there always are).

Well put.

And don't forget, that in medicine, you don't always get to pick your patients.

If your a neurosurgeon, then every dip@#$% who doesn't wear a helmet when they crash their donorcycle and has a traumatic brain injury will be yours to care for since you'll likely have trauma call with 3:1 coverage. Many cities don't have neurosurgical coverage at all since malpractice is prohibitively expensive, and it is not uncommon to only have 1 or 2 colleagues to share call with.

Sure, you may easily make $700K a year, but you may not have time to spend it.

 

[Adcadet]

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