Medicine and Lifestyle

[Discovery01]

Hi Guys,
I posted a similiar thread in dentistry, but this question is a little different. I'm deliberating whether to go to dental school or medical school. I reallly just am stuck and have been for a few months. I've talked to a couple dentists and a few physicians as well. I just want to make a choice that I don't regret later on (at least I want to make the decision based on honesty and not for the wrong reasons). Anyway, did any of you decide to go to med school over dental school? My fears about going into medicine are as follows:
1) The residency--how grueling it sounds... I know it's different for differnet specialities and fields but it just seems very grueling... It's not that I'm scared to work hard... it's just that I feel my priorities might change. I'm 24 right now and I'll be almost 30 by teh time I start residency. I wonder if my priorities in life will shift at that point (i.e. want to spend more time doing non-career stuff).
2) The hours after residency.. like as a physician (i know this depends on the type fo physician). but from my understanding, 50-60 hours a week is a 'good schedule' for physicians and many are on call at least once a week.
3) The whole managed care issue with how physicians are less autonomous than ever.

What maeks me want to be a physcian:
I am passionate about health care... I am good with people... Basically, I'm a "helper." Also, if I'm honest, the presitge really plays a big role. I don't want to graduate efrom dental school and feel like I didn't push myself hard enough to be a physician.

Anyway, just being honest. I know some of the above is pretty vague, but I just wanted to give you teh general gist. If anyone has any comments/suggestions, please let me know. I just want to make a decision and go for it.

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[calliMD]

This type of decision is really personal and something that you'll have to decide for yourself. I'm sure everyone that has gone into medicine or chosen a different career over medicine has pondered these exact same issues (ie: residency, work hours, etc.) Some of your fears may be assuaged by others posting their experiences (ie: "I chose medicine and it worked out great for me!"), but ultimately, one person's opinions and priorities may be completely different from your own. What worked for someone obviously may not work for you. So the best advice I can give you is to just make the best decision for yourself at this present time. You can't predict the future. Worrying about priorities changing 6-10 years from now is pointless. If it happens later on, it happens, and I'm sure you'll come up with a way to deal with it then. The only thing you can do now is work with what you know. Stick to hard facts and try to keep away from worrying and meaningless "what ifs" type of thinking.

-Calli

P.S. Remember that hitting 30 is not the end of the world.

 

[burntcrispy]

I'm 32yo and about to graduate from med school in about a month. I wouldn't change my decision for anything. Medical school is rigorous but not all that bad. Yes, residency can be brutal at times with regards to hours depending on the specialty. You're right, most doctors do work 60+ hours per week.

Upside: Its a very rewarding job with many specialties to choose from. You can choose a lifestyle specialty (anesthesiology, derm, rads, etc) and make PLENTY of money working about 50 hours per week. You can choose surgery and work alot more hours but have a very, very cool job. When you're doing something you like the hours don't seem bad at all. (During 3rd year med school you put in lots of 80 hour weeks.)

I thought of dental school but couldn't handle working in someone's mouth all day for the rest of my career. I know a guy in dental school and he said he couldn't handle being a physician and hearing pts complaining all the time. To each his own. I ended up going with anesthesia: great hours, great pay, and you don't have to talk to patients.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[pdavis68]

I'm with burntcrispy. Though I haven't gotten to med school yet. I'm a software engineer and I worked a lot of 70-80+ hour weeks, particularly early in my career when I really loved it. It sounds like a lot, but when you love what you're doing, it's just not that difficult. I have no doubt residency will be tough, but because I've had that kind of schedule before, it doesn't really scare me that much. I know I'm passionate about wanting to do this and I know I'll be passionate about doing it, so to me, that's really all that matters.

I can't really advise you on which one to do. As someone else mentioned, it's a really personal choice. I'm 37 and I've spent the past 4 years trying to figure out what career to change to. Knew I wanted to change, but it took me 4 years to figure out what I could love to do as much or more than what I've been doing for the past 20 years.

If you're not going to really love being a doctor, then go with dentistry, But honestly, if you're not going to love that, don't do either. You spend too much of your life at work to do something you don't love. Trust me on that. If you have the option, always go with what you love. It's worth more than money.

Pete

 

[Discovery01]

Do you have a wife and kids or other family? When you worked 70-80 hours did you miss being with them? also, how old are you, if I may ask. I feel like it would be differnet for someone in his/her 30s than someone in his/her 20s. Thanks.

 

[Law2Doc]

Do you have a wife and kids or other family? When you worked 70-80 hours did you miss being with them? also, how old are you, if I may ask. I feel like it would be differnet for someone in his/her 30s than someone in his/her 20s. Thanks.

Medicine is not an easy career. At the risk of being blunt, if you are truly this focused on lifestyle, dental school might be a better track. Folks do go into medicine and have spouses, kids, etc. but they generally they do work very long hours, juggle things, make lots of compromises and miss out on certain things. Residency will involve up to 80 hrs per week of time in the hospital, and you will have stuff to study/read when you get home. There are some more lifestyle friendly jobs at the other end, but rarely will you find as soft a professionals' schedule as most dentists will have.

 

[vtucci]

I will be 30 later this year. I was a lawyer and hated it. You need to do whatever will make you happy. Long hours are nothing if you love what you do and short hours can seem like an eternity if you don't.

As far as medicine goes, there are specialties with less time than others- i.e., psych, radiology, dermatology and then there are others where there is a trade-off, the more hours you work, the more money you make. Just stay away from surgery and ob/gyn if you are really that concerned about the hours.

 

[njbmd]

Hi Guys,
I posted a similiar thread in dentistry, but this question is a little different. I'm deliberating whether to go to dental school or medical school. I reallly just am stuck and have been for a few months. I've talked to a couple dentists and a few physicians as well. I just want to make a choice that I don't regret later on (at least I want to make the decision based on honesty and not for the wrong reasons). Anyway, did any of you decide to go to med school over dental school? My fears about going into medicine are as follows:
1) The residency--how grueling it sounds... I know it's different for differnet specialities and fields but it just seems very grueling... It's not that I'm scared to work hard... it's just that I feel my priorities might change. I'm 24 right now and I'll be almost 30 by teh time I start residency. I wonder if my priorities in life will shift at that point (i.e. want to spend more time doing non-career stuff).
2) The hours after residency.. like as a physician (i know this depends on the type fo physician). but from my understanding, 50-60 hours a week is a 'good schedule' for physicians and many are on call at least once a week.
3) The whole managed care issue with how physicians are less autonomous than ever.

What maeks me want to be a physcian:
I am passionate about health care... I am good with people... Basically, I'm a "helper." Also, if I'm honest, the presitge really plays a big role. I don't want to graduate efrom dental school and feel like I didn't push myself hard enough to be a physician.

Anyway, just being honest. I know some of the above is pretty vague, but I just wanted to give you teh general gist. If anyone has any comments/suggestions, please let me know. I just want to make a decision and go for it.

Hi there,
First of all, you are going to work just as hard or even harder in dental school. I was a peer tutor for the dental students when I was a second-year medical student. Their coursework was comparable to ours except for things like occlusion labs etc. You need loads of manual dexterity for dental school and of course, 98% of your practice is office-based.

I am a much-older general surgery resident (almost finished) who did internship before the 80-hour work week rule went into effect. I have been tested in many ways from marathon surgical cases where I have been operating from 7:40AM to 11:OOPM (neurosurgery and ENT) to 50 hours straight on call with two 40-minute naps between patients. As an intern, I did 48 hours on call and 24 hours off on one of my rotations after one of my fellow residents became ill. The bottom line, it's not as bad as you think if you enjoy what you do.

You have to decide what you want to do. Prestige is not a good barometer of personal and professional happiness. Money is not a good barometer of personal and professional happiness as it will elude you every time if that is your sole reason for choosing a profession. You have to LOVE what you do so that you do it well. Anything less and you get to spend quality time in the malpractice courts instead of doing your chosen profession.

In medicine, you have to LOVE what you do or you will not do it very well. There is too mich at stake not to do medicine well. There are easier ways to make far more money that do not involve the well-being of humans.

njbmd

 

[NonTradMed]

Hi Guys,
I posted a similiar thread in dentistry, but this question is a little different. I'm deliberating whether to go to dental school or medical school. I reallly just am stuck and have been for a few months. I've talked to a couple dentists and a few physicians as well. I just want to make a choice that I don't regret later on (at least I want to make the decision based on honesty and not for the wrong reasons). Anyway, did any of you decide to go to med school over dental school? My fears about going into medicine are as follows:
1) The residency--how grueling it sounds... I know it's different for differnet specialities and fields but it just seems very grueling... It's not that I'm scared to work hard... it's just that I feel my priorities might change. I'm 24 right now and I'll be almost 30 by teh time I start residency. I wonder if my priorities in life will shift at that point (i.e. want to spend more time doing non-career stuff).
2) The hours after residency.. like as a physician (i know this depends on the type fo physician). but from my understanding, 50-60 hours a week is a 'good schedule' for physicians and many are on call at least once a week.
3) The whole managed care issue with how physicians are less autonomous than ever.

What maeks me want to be a physcian:
I am passionate about health care... I am good with people... Basically, I'm a "helper." Also, if I'm honest, the presitge really plays a big role. I don't want to graduate efrom dental school and feel like I didn't push myself hard enough to be a physician.

Anyway, just being honest. I know some of the above is pretty vague, but I just wanted to give you teh general gist. If anyone has any comments/suggestions, please let me know. I just want to make a decision and go for it.

Sounds like you are really hung up on perceived work load of physicians. Dentists have their own practice and running their own practice may be demanding in other ways. Perhaps you should go shadow some doctors and dentists and ask them about how they balance work and family life (and how many hours they typically work). Also, it sounds like your reasons for wanting to be a physician are tenous at best, wanting to 'help people' isn't enough to want to go into medicine if you are scared of the time committement, and prestige is going to be worth @#$% if you feel medicine will take over you life and leave you with nothing. Shadow a few dents and docs to get a better gauge on lifestyle and enjoyment of profession. You can also read stuff like Medical Economics (http://www.memag.com/memag/) about physician work schedules, lifestyle etc.

 

[chrisjohn]

Medicine is what you make it. Schedule is dependent upon a multitude of factors: specialty, locale, position, private practice, academic, etc.

It's a lot of work. A lot of work matriculating. A lot of work in school. A lot of work during internship. A lot of work during residency. A lot of work during fellowship. Do you get it? A LOT OF WORK.

So, go to dental school and be like my dentist DR. R. 75 years old, looks 60, works two days a week, plays tennis the other five. He loves his job.

Medicine can be a vocation, not a lifestyle. One final aphorism, worry about getting into both programs, then choose.

 

[medworm]

Perhaps this anecdote will help:

In one of my volunteer activities, I came across a forestry program manager who was just amazingly ecstatic about his work. I didn't think that anyone could ever be that content with their jobs, so I asked him how he found his passion.

He laughed. Instead of the "I've been dreaming of doing this since I was five" answer that I expected, he told me that his brain's like a non-stick pan and when he was growing up nothing but horticulture stuck. He quickly learned that he had a knack for that stuff and happened to like it a lot too.

So hopefully, that gives you a frame of reference for your deliberations. May be you have a passion deeply engrained in your spirits, or maybe you'll arrive at the same destination via this process of elimination.

 

[MedChic]

Perhaps this anecdote will help:

In one of my volunteer activities, I came across a forestry program manager who was just amazingly ecstatic about his work. I didn't think that anyone could ever be that content with their jobs, so I asked him how he found his passion.

He laughed. Instead of the "I've been dreaming of doing this since I was five" answer that I expected, he told me that his brain's like a non-stick pan and when he was growing up nothing but horticulture stuck. He quickly learned that he had a knack for that stuff and happened to like it a lot too.

So hopefully, that gives you a frame of reference for your deliberations. May be you have a passion deeply engrained in your spirits, or maybe you'll arrive at the same destination via this process of elimination.

haha that's a great ananlogy. My brain is certainly comparable to that guy's "non-stick pan".

To the OP: It's funny, but you may circle and circle and change several majors, change careers, but if you follow that old gut, you will end up with what feels most comfortable to you. Be attuned to when you feel satisfied/content. What feels "right"? Are you the kind of person who wants time for a family/hobbies, or are you happy when you are busy all the time, working? Call me crazy but I, for example, live for that feeling when my head finally hits that pillow after a day of not having a second to myself. It just feels so much better than if I didn't have all that stuff to do beforehand.

 

[Gatewayhoward]

Wow only 60+ hours a week after your 80/wk of internship?! I work 72 hours a week as a medic and some of my fellow employees work 120hrs/wk. Doesn't sound so bad.

I can relate to MedChic. Boredem is hell. Free time can be depressing.

 

[efex101]

Just a little note about the lifestyle residencies in case there is some misunderstanding....although yes there are great lifestyle choices you *can* make like choosing derm over surgery...or derm over family medicine...these lifestyle residencies are not easy to come by and not ALL folks wanting them will ever achieve them. So although we do need to be confident in our capabilities reality will hit you real fast once you start medical school. Those with families may have "other" priorities aside from studying 24/7 and hence may not be AOA or get a 250 on their boards...just food for thought..

 

[medworm]

Discovery01, I just want to add that between the two extremes of "80-hr live to work" and "9 to 5 numb and dumb work", you can actually carve out a very fulfilling middleground. You should really think hard about how you want to spend your time. Would you feel bitter 7 years from now if you end up spending 80% of your time with your nose in textbooks and seeing nothing more than the insides of a hospital and fairly grotesque organs?

A segway: when I was 25, I looked at my life and thought "Wow, I really wasted a lot of time doing nothing. Next thing I l know, I ran a marathon. Total Knee-jerk reaction to the herd mentality, at the price of six months of insane training. Today, you can't even bribe me to run another marathon b/c I finally figured out that despite the popularity of running, I actually don't like running enough to do it 5x a week. (I still run 2x per week for the cardiovascular benefits.)

Even today in my glide year, I don't have time for the banal things in life, like shopping, waiting 45 minutes for a dinner table, a job that require extensive travel, unnecessary "martini bar" socializing, and all the stuff that the young, fabulous, and broke do. And going forward, I don't ever forsee myself working more than 50 hours per week (except for residency). It's not that I don't like to challenge myself and I absolutely do intend to be the best physician I can be, but just that my hobbies are so amazingly fun that I'd never give them up for any kind of work.

There's as many physicians switching out of medicine as there are switching into it. Ever had Scharffen Berger chocolates? Created by a Bay Area physician. Ever read "The Kite Runner"? Written by a physician.

Case in point: don't force yourself into fitting into medicine or dentistry just b/c everyone else is doing it or b/c the money is "good". You might end up regretting not pursuing your other creative interests.

So it all depends on the person. Good luck with your deliberations, and just make sure your decision doesn't leave you feel quesy.

 

[chrisjohn]

80 hrs wk isn't uncommon for the Hem/Onc clinic where I work. Wasn't anything close to the hours spent on job in the Army.

Folks who complain are whiners who thought that medicine would pay them mid to high six figures while allowing time for at least three rounds of golf a week.

It's all about expectations folks.

So many doctors have never done anything else, so of course they think the grass is neon green on the other side.

Oh and the MD’s who pursue other careers? They have medicine to fall back on if things don’t work out. Medicine is about freedom. I know all the trapped MDs with a 500K house and their trophy wife/huband/lifestyle will disagree.

Doctors can move WHEREVER they want.

Doctors, based on position and specialty, can make their OWN hours.

Doctors largely dictate their earnings based on location, specialty choice and amount of work.

Freedom.

Yes, it comes at a price of a difficult initiation. Quite whining!

 

[Law2Doc]

Doctors, based on position and specialty, can make their OWN hours.

Just to clarify, the opportunity to make your own hours really tends not to occur for most until well down your career path. Immediately after residency/fellowship, few physicians work for themselves, so your schedule is going to be whatever your employer/group/partnership says it will be. And as was mentioned above, only a certain percentage of folks in med school will find some of the more cushy lifestyle specialties open to them -- so this is not per se a choice many people get to make (You cannot assume that you are going to do eg. derm any more than you can assume you will be at the top of your class).

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Just to clarify, the opportunity to make your own hours really tends not to occur for most until well down your career path. Immediately after residency/fellowship, few physicians work for themselves, so your schedule is going to be whatever your employer/group/partnership says it will be. And as was mentioned above, only a certain percentage of folks in med school will find some of the more cushy lifestyle specialties open to them -- so this is not per se a choice many people get to make (You cannot assume that you are going to do eg. derm any more than you can assume you will be at the top of your class).

Once again, I'm going to have to agree with chrisjohn. I think there are more choices in medicine than people here are willing to admit (why?) The ER doctors that I shadow often work less than 40 hours per week and have plenty of time for fishing, golf, families, etc. A few of them are pretty young too (30s).

I'm not doubting that there are LOTS of doctors with intense schedules (we have a good friend of the family that is an OB/GYN and works very long hours like that) but I think it is as unrealistic to say that you will be working 80+ hours as a physician as it is to say that you will be working < 40 hours as a physician. I'm sure that we both can find numerous examples to support our respective positions. Because of the freedom and ability to make individual descisions about how one practices medicine, it's much more accurate, I think, to say that doctor's hours are more like shades of grey (40 < x < 80+) than black or white.

EDIT: Oh, my point WRT to your post, law2doc: I don't consider ER/EM to be one of the particularly difficult residencies to get into (like derm, surgery, maybe rad.) so I think there are choices that can be made regardless of specialty.

 

[burntcrispy]

Just thought I'd add something else to the post:

Like several people have posted: Some specialties tend to give a better lifestyle than others. There is the so called "ROADE to happiness" that we med students hear about. (Radiology, Opthomology, Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Emergency medicine/ENT). Although Derm is the most competative (you are number one in your medschool class, top 1% score on USMLE and years of research and your chances are still only so so to get into the residency), the others are pretty competative as well and are only getting more competative as time goes on.

The competativeness of lifestyle residencies should be something to consider if you are going into medical school with the sole purpose of persuing one of these careers. You will have to study much harder than your peers during the first 2 years of medschool. During the ward months of year 3 you will have to come earlier, stay later and work harder than your peers. So, if you are going into medschool thinking that you're going to spend lots of time with the family you are likely to not get one of these more competative residencies.

Being a physician in general is hard work even after residency. I'm doing Anesthesiology and the average work week is about 65/wk. This is actually close to the average that most specialties work with the exception of the extreme outliers (ex Derm and Neurosurgery). If you are looking for a cush job with 40 hour work week you may want to consider another field. There were several people in my class who quit after realizing how much work and sacrafice is actually involved in becoming and then working as a physician. It NEVER really gets easy

 

[Law2Doc]

It NEVER really gets easy

Precisely.

 

[RxnMan]

It NEVER really gets easy

But then again, this is what some of us want.

 

[chrisjohn]

Well Crap! Can an Army recruiter give me a call? The Doctor thing just isn't what it’s cracked up to be. I should have never have left the Army. Can I get back in at my old rank or will I have to go through PLDC again?

Let see, my boss is spending three weeks in Europe while attending the International Society for Cell Therapy conference. The asst. director is one year out of fellowship and he “worked” maybe 50 hours last week. None of the physicians I know are doing too badly.

Again, it’s all perspective. I’m just glad I can recognize a good gig and feel sorry for those who feel they were duped. Hey, the Army raised the enlistment age to 36. Check it out, maybe some of you would enjoy being an Army of One and I could say I told you so.

 

[efex101]

Hi there, I was also in the Army and worked many many many hours but the hours spent after I was done with my military duties were MINE. In medicine although you will see some folks working let's say 40-60 hrs/week IN the hospital/clinic there is "usually" more work to be done later at home...so once you are done with hospital duties your job is not done completely...you can get called/paged. I worked my arse off in the military but by far medical school has been more time consuming and more relentless than the Army ever was. The stress level in medical school and beyond is at a pretty constant high which can add to the "feeling" of doing more in medicine. Like others have posted anecdotal statements of folks having cushy hours and whatnot are NOT the norm. Most of those folks are well beyond residency. EM is actually getting pretty competitive and although yes they work in shifts the attrition rate is quite large for ED physicians. We are not trying to change anyones mind or rain on parades but most of us on this non-trad forum had other jobs and are not just fresh out of undergrad..from my perspective I see very few docs with 500K homes/riding a Benz and working cush hours.

 

[burntcrispy]

"I worked my arse off in the military but by far medical school has been more time consuming and more relentless than the Army ever was. "


You still in med school Exfex? If so, what specialty are you leaning towards/going into?

One last thing guys: I woked as a RN for 6 years and frequently worked 70-80 hours/ week to pay for school and whanot but that was relatively easy compared to working my butt off in med school. During the 3rd year I put in more 80+ hour weeks that I would like to remember and some of them were just brutal. (standing around for hours holding retractors in surgery, running from floor to floor to follow up on patients/labs, trying to discharge patients who have nowhere to go, and my least favorite: doing rectal exams!!!) The work is stressful because if you want the higher grades you must perform well (ie know what you're doing) and bust your butt on rotations. I must say that I've really enjoyed the work and that the hours don't bother me but the people in my class with families tend to complain about it more than the rest of us.

One of the girls with children in my class told me knowing what she knows now she would definately not do it all over again. Once you are in school and building up the massive debt it is very difficult to change your mind and quit. Bottom line: do alot of research and soul searching to find out if medicine is exactly for you. The romance and prestiege and all of that nonsence quickly fade after being in school for just a little while and definatley is gone by graduation. After that you're left with a stressful and very demanding JOB. For some it's perfect and very rewarding, for others it's just another miserable job.

I'm not writing this to try to discourage anyone. Being older, most people find out what they really want and are confident that a career as a physician are for them. We did have a couple of non-trads quit from my class though.
Do your research because it's going to be a long ride.

Good luck guys.

 

[efex101]

Still in medical school...technically done with second year and studying for boards...aghghgh. Interested in IM...

 

[chrisjohn]

I defer to those further ahead. In the years to come, I'll be the first to post that medicine wasn't what I expected.

Training is hard. Becoming a physician is a test of will. It's not fun. The hours are really long. Pay as a resident blows. It's all an initiation.

Ask a tabbed out Special Forces operator, Army Ranger, Marine Recon, or AF Para-rescue, they say many of the same things. Training was brutal; a lot of their class didn’t make it. The job is titanically demanding. Doing anything at a high level is tough.

If it was easy everybody would be doing it.

 

[efex101]

True

 

[jace's mom]

Pay as a resident blows.

I agree with your post, but I do want to point out that avg resident pay beats out the salary I earn with my poor little Masters degree, so that part is relative, I guess.

 

[chrisjohn]

I agree with your post, but I do want to point out that avg resident pay beats out the salary I earn with my poor little Masters degree, so that part is relative, I guess.

I'm right there with you. I have the most education in our lab, a Biology MS and get paid the least. 40K would be a raise for me too. Ahh residency, you can't come too soon.

 

[Sainttpk]

I defer to those further ahead. In the years to come, I'll be the first to post that medicine wasn't what I expected.

Training is hard. Becoming a physician is a test of will. It's not fun. The hours are really long. Pay as a resident blows. It's all an initiation.

Ask a tabbed out Special Forces operator, Army Ranger, Marine Recon, or AF Para-rescue, they say many of the same things. Training was brutal; a lot of their class didn’t make it. The job is titanically demanding. Doing anything at a high level is tough.

If it was easy everybody would be doing it.

I could be wrong but I do not think medicine can be compared to many careers, for one thing having to worry about the lives of patients seems to be very stressful.

Add on that the worry of being sued, or making a mistake. Sure all jobs have some sort of stress and worry, but if you make a mistake your probably not going to end up killing someone. When your dealing with peoples very well being it is no joke!

 

[efex101]

I am not sure which jobs pay 35K and still work over 80hrs/week for about four years or more...maybe some EMS folks might put in that amount of time but not for years on end...

 

[1Path]

Just to clarify, the opportunity to make your own hours really tends not to occur for most until well down your career path. Immediately after residency/fellowship, few physicians work for themselves, so your schedule is going to be whatever your employer/group/partnership says it will be. And as was mentioned above, only a certain percentage of folks in med school will find some of the more cushy lifestyle specialties open to them -- so this is not per se a choice many people get to make (You cannot assume that you are going to do eg. derm any more than you can assume you will be at the top of your class).

I also agree with chrisjohn and think that you assume ALL physicians want to do patient oriented work forever. I can think of few gov't physicians that work more than 50 hours/week especially if they do something like Epidemiology.

Flexibility is priceless and the training involved in becoming a doc seems like a small price to pay to have it for the rest of your career!

 

[1Path]

from my perspective I see very few docs with 500K homes/riding a Benz and working cush hours.

Check out Betheda, Maryland home of the NIH some day!

 

[Law2Doc]

Check out Betheda, Maryland home of the NIH some day!

Those are all folks who got into the profession pre-HMO (back in the "golden age"). In todays reimbursement driven practice it doesn't happen quite as much. (Although $500k doesn't get you as much house in the DC suburbs as it does elsewhere in the country.) Most end up comfortable, but not rich, these days.

 

[1Path]

Those are all folks who got into the profession pre-HMO (back in the "golden age"). In todays reimbursement driven practice it doesn't happen quite as much. (Although $500k doesn't get you as much house in the DC suburbs as it does elsewhere in the country.) Most end up comfortable, but not rich, these days.

No, I'm actually speaking of those physicians that do non clinical work for the NIH and marry reasonably "well". The federal government has a STRONG interest in and positions for physicians that are willing to apply their skills to many fields including clinical trials, epidemiology, medical editor, just to name a few.

 

[Law2Doc]

No, I'm actually speaking of those physicians that do non clinical work for the NIH and marry reasonably "well". The federal government has a STRONG interest in and positions for physicians that are willing to apply their skills to many fields including clinical trials, epidemiology, medical editor, just to name a few.

Sorry, I misunderstood. An relatively small percentage of med school grads go the federal govt route, which is why I think folks (like me) take it for granted that everyone coming out of residency is going to be some form of clinician. I know nothing of NIH careers.

Marrying well is certainly a viable path to wealth. Just ask Anna Nicole Smith, who actually appears on her way to collecting a mint after a recent high court victory.

 

[1Path]

Sorry, I misunderstood. An relatively small percentage of med school grads go the federal govt route, which is why I think folks (like me) take it for granted that everyone coming out of residency is going to be some form of clinician. I know nothing of NIH careers..

I think the primary reason most clinicians don't give much thought to working at places like the NIH is becasue the pay is substantially lower than what you'd make in private. However, I know a former resident that was paid 96K, 60K in salary and 35K toward loans, to work there and there are other similar programs for folks doing fellowships or assuming other positions as well. So when I hear people complain about medicine but then refuse to see gov't work as a viable option, I immediately think to myself that unhappiness is what happens when you pursue a career for the wrong reasons. And anyone that make a choice based on monetary compensation deserves to be unhappy IMHO. Like NJBMD stated, going into medicne for the wrong reasons could cost a patient their life.

 

[mdub]

I will be 30 later this year. I was a lawyer and hated it.

How long did you do law? Are you still in med school?