Neurology Fellowships (clinician vs hospitalist)

[skillionaire]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello,

So I am currently a PGY2 and next year I need to really focus on my career path as I will be applying for fellowships next year. I love vascular neurology but the program I am in would work me to death if I did my fellowship there. I have currently been taking my elective following a movement disorder specialist and it seems very interesting.

So now I'm torn. I know it would be a lot easier to get a job getting if I did a vascular fellowship and became a hospitalist. Or do I go into movement disorder and start my own clinic. I am not even sure how all this works yet actually and what's involved in this.

My question is, if I have a family, should I take the hospitalist route and have guaranteed income or do I go into movement disorder and try to start my own clinic? (is that even feasible nowadays?) I'm scared that if I start my own clinic I just work myself to death just trying to maintain it.

Thank you for reading!

 

[bustbones26]

Hello,

So I am currently a PGY2 and next year I need to really focus on my career path as I will be applying for fellowships next year. I love vascular neurology but the program I am in would work me to death if I did my fellowship there. I have currently been taking my elective following a movement disorder specialist and it seems very interesting.

So now I'm torn. I know it would be a lot easier to get a job getting if I did a vascular fellowship and became a hospitalist. Or do I go into movement disorder and start my own clinic. I am not even sure how all this works yet actually and what's involved in this.

My question is, if I have a family, should I take the hospitalist route and have guaranteed income or do I go into movement disorder and try to start my own clinic? (is that even feasible nowadays?) I'm scared that if I start my own clinic I just work myself to death just trying to maintain it.

Thank you for reading!

Take it from a guy that did it, if you start your own clinic, then yes, there is a great deal of "business work". That being stated, there are some benfits to being independent. I feel that I must warn you, that if you do start your own clinic, being strictly a movement disorders clinic may be difficult at first. Not impossible, in the right setting, but you will still have to think of ways to put food on your table. Neurologists are in demand in the private sector, thus, while many will be excited that you are an expert in a subspecialty, they will still want your general neurology services.

Whenever I decided to give up my private practice and seek hospital employment, I interviewed at several places and one things was very clear!!! While all potential employers were very excited that I had subspecialty expertise, I was not going to dodge the call bullet, i.e. stroke (pseudostroke) and altered mental status consults. I would also argue that you do not have to be a neurohospitalist to have guaranteed income. No matter what your subspecialty may be, if you join a hospital owned group, your income will be guaranteed so long as you meet the RVU target stated in your contract, which will not be hard to do in neurology, especially if you do participate in call.

 

[kchan99]

Movement disorders is more difficult as private practice since many patients with Parkinson disease are managed by general neurologists or even PCPs, and are not referred to movement disorders until later in their disease. It would be more difficult to build a referral base for movement disorders. However, I do know a couple of movement disorders specialists who are in movement disorders-only private practices, but these neurologists were more established in their communities as academic neurologists before starting their own practices. There are many neurology groups that have movement disorders trained neurologists, but these neurologists are also seeing many general neurology patients.