MS3 Decision - ENT vs ophtho

[iA-MD2013]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[InterviewMe]

I've had doctors from both ENT and ophtho tell me the future is bleak and that I should think about other specialties

This shouldn't be what decides your future. It's impossible to predict where things will be 10 years from now, when you are actually looking for a job.

Spend time with attendings in both fields. Both are excellent fields, it depends on what suits you.

 

[Shnurek]

Do whatever makes you happy, honestly. Like the above poster said, the future is very hard to predict. Might be that audiologists start taking over ENT for example. You'll still be at the top either one you choose.

 

[Visionary]

There is a lot of uncertainty throughout medicine right now. We just dodged a 27.4% across-the-board pay cut, for Pete's sake! I don't think doctors will ever be hurting financially, but pay will likely continue to go down in relationship to cost of living. May be more difficult to pay off student loans. Will likely have to be smarter with the money you do have. I'll still be here, regardless. I love what I do.

 

[doctortom]

There is a lot of uncertainty throughout medicine right now. We just dodged a 27.4% across-the-board pay cut, for Pete's sake! I don't think doctors will ever be hurting financially, but pay will likely continue to go down in relationship to cost of living. May be more difficult to pay off student loans. Will likely have to be smarter with the money you do have. I'll still be here, regardless. I love what I do.

Absolutely agree with this. If you take a few minutes to peruse similar forums in any other specialty, you will see similar discussions of declining reimbursement and what the future holds for the specialty.

 

[iA-MD2013]

.

 

[OphthoQuestions]

This all makes a lot of sense, thank you. I'm sure I will enjoy the work I do in either of these fields, so I thought I would make the decision based off job security. But doctortom is right, every field of medicine is complaining right now about reimbursement cuts and it's hard to predict the future.

ENT was one of those fields I had exposure to before starting medical school. Rotated in it for a month during third year and thought it was a lot of fun and the people in the field were very nice. I hated the 10 hr long head and neck cases, but I only have to deal with that during residency...I would never choose to practice that. My favorite part was the microscopic ear cases. Ophthalmology- I was exposed to it briefly before medical school but for some weird reason never really considered it. During break after reading up on different medical specialties, I realized how amazing it sounded and how it seemed like a perfect fit! It's unfortunate that I never realized this earlier. Everything that I love about medicine, ophthalmology has. So at this point, I'm trying to get more exposure to ophtho. I will certainly rotate through in July, my first fourth year rotation, but that is cutting it close in putting together a good application. My second choice is to find a mentor in ophtho, start some research, and if it unexpectedly turns out I hate the field, I'll just leave it all in June and go focus on ENT. But I'm scared that will make me look bad for ENT (that I was focusing on ophtho research this late in my MS3 yr). Any advice?

Thank you!

Best part of Ophthalmology = usually no or very minimal call responsibilities when you are an attending (at least in private practice)

Second best part of Ophthalmology = independence from the hospital environment meaning you rarely have to ever admit a patient, round on them, or deal with an inefficient hospital system

I can't imagine doing long ENT cases. I thought thyroidectomies, etc were just painful to watch, and looked overall very stressful for the surgeon. Eye cases in comparison are relatively relaxed and for the most part have excellent results that patients appreciate.

A lot of ENT's that I know ultimately backdoor into doing facial plastics. I guess they realize they also do not want to deal with the stresses and poor payment of bread-and-butter ENT.

-OQ

 

[vtrain]

There will always be a need for both specialties and "bleak" is a relative term. You will live a comfortable life in medicine but you likely won't br absurdly rich. Money can not be a driving factor, particularly in this decision. I love ophtho and have zero regrets.

 

[melonaid]

If you like ENT, consider Oral Maxillofacial surgery. You can do it through a few programs as an MD (normal applicants are DDS). They get paid GREAT, have awesome hours, etc. I seriously considered it, but considered it too late and didn't want to take a year off for it.

 

[RestoreSight]

People compare ENT and ophtho a lot, but other than both dealing with the head they are very different specialties. ENT is far closer to general surgery in terms of training and general responsibility. You have long OR hours, you round on patients in the hospital frequently, and patients have long post-op recovery periods for many procedures. Ophtho is almost entirely an outpatient specialty. OR time is shorter, patients recover at a phenomenal pace and almost never need inpatient admissions following the most common procedures. Incomes are comparable, but IMO the day-to-day lifestyles of each really don't have that much in common.

 

[Visionary]

People compare ENT and ophtho a lot, but other than both dealing with the head they are very different specialties. ENT is far closer to general surgery in terms of training and general responsibility. You have long OR hours, you round on patients in the hospital frequently, and patients have long post-op recovery periods for many procedures. Ophtho is almost entirely an outpatient specialty. OR time is shorter, patients recover at a phenomenal pace and almost never need inpatient admissions following the most common procedures. Incomes are comparable, but IMO the day-to-day lifestyles of each really don't have that much in common.

^ This

 

[speyeder]

People compare ENT and ophtho a lot, but other than both dealing with the head they are very different specialties. ENT is far closer to general surgery in terms of training and general responsibility. You have long OR hours, you round on patients in the hospital frequently, and patients have long post-op recovery periods for many procedures. Ophtho is almost entirely an outpatient specialty. OR time is shorter, patients recover at a phenomenal pace and almost never need inpatient admissions following the most common procedures. Incomes are comparable, but IMO the day-to-day lifestyles of each really don't have that much in common.

I agree with this