IR and patient contact

[CutIt]

For anyone interested in radiology but who dislike the limited-nonexistent patient contact, is IR a solution? Meaning is their patient contact comparable to that of a surgeon (surgical workup, do procedure, f/u post-op) or is it just pretty much being called by another service to do a procedure on one of their patients and then leave?

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[samsoccer7]

I'd also like the answer to this one

 

[oldandtired]

Many IRs now run clinics and admit patients to the hospital including post procedure care.

If you so desperately crave patient contact, radiology may not be a good choice. Remember the residency is four years with only 3-4 months of IR rotations. THe rest will be diagnostic rotations (sitting in a dark, cold, boring room seprated from society and the world). You may be very miserable as you see your medicine cronies having abundant rewarding and exhilarating patient contact.

 

[droliver]

Originally posted by oldandtired
Many IRs now run clinics and admit patients to the hospital including post procedure care.

Many? I think that's exagerating things a bit, especially outside of teaching institutions

 

[superfly76]

my minimal experience in IR felt as though there was only minimal contact with the patient. you may do a preop workup, etc, but it's pretty much it. The patient, though slightly less sedated, is much like a surgical patient. But at least in surgery, there were rounds to see the patients...IR didn't have rounds to speak of...so, correct me if I'm wrong, but there wasn't much interaction.

I think there was more interaction with patients during GU/GI! So, if that's what you want, you may want to do something else...unless you're a MS-IV, then it's too late.