ophtho vs. rads

[happypenguin]

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i know, i know; two totally different fields, but i honestly like both. any personal thoughts on the competitiveness, resident happiness, real world happiness, and career outlooks of each? i think i might like rads slightly better but it's hard to say no to one less year and lack of inhouse call that ophtho offers. i know you should pick based on the long term, but man, i'm tired and the past three years of med school seemed like the longest of my life. what's your take? and no, i don't mind sitting in the dark or doing microsurgery all day. i kinda like both.

 

[Frumps]

That's funny...I was the same way. I'm not quite sure why I liked both since they seemed so different.

Maybe because they both use some cool technology. Or maybe because they are both visual fields. Good luck with your decision (I don't think you can go wrong with either!)

 

[indytx]

i struggled with this decision myself. ultimately i think the biggest factor is, are you a people person? do you like dealing with people, providing customer service, sometimes requiring you to be energetic and vivacious even when you're tired at the end of a long day of clinic?

if you prefer doing your work on a scheduled basis, knowing exactly when you'll go home every day, and don't mind the minimal patient interaction, rads may be for you. also keep in mind that although rads has an extra year of training, you're sitting down in a chair for that entire year.

both fields have some issues - rads has outsourcing and IR has competition from interventional cards, ophtho has competition with optometry. if you want to do IR, just keep in mind that except for neurorads, the procedures are pretty boring.

competitiveness, at least from what i've seen, is about equal. maybe ophtho is slightly more competitive, but not much.

for me, it came down to my interest in international health - in ophtho, there's tons of opportunities, and in rads, there's none (unless you outsource yourself to switzerland or india or australia).

ultimately, i don't think you could go wrong with either field. good luck to you.

 

[Jokestr]

Sounds like u may need to do a little more research into ophtho...I don't know about the "lack of in house call".....I don't know anything about your personality, but your post screams radiology to me. That aside, posting on an ophtho forum, I think most will agree that ophtho is FAR SUPERIOR to Rads 😉 but like Frumps said, both are good fields and you will probably be happy in either. I would just recommend trying to better understand both fields and what you are looking for in life before making a decision. Good luck

 

[rubensan]

i know you should pick based on the long term, but man, i'm tired and the past three years of med school seemed like the longest of my life.

dude, you're tired and you haven't even done internship or first year of ophthalmology residency yet! 🙂 to preface, i know very little about radiology. chest x-rays and adominal CTs scared me in medical school. but i could look at a fundus! i think both are great fields, but don't kid yourself; ophtho isn't all that cush of a residency at most programs, especially the first year. also, please don't delude yourself into thinking that "at home call" is easy. if you are at a major trauma center or covering multiple hospitals (not uncommon for ophtho residency) call can be very busy. i think ophtho is fantastic, BUT the people that i know that are the most unhappy with ophthalmololgy residency (doheny and elsewhere) thought that residency was going to be a cake walk. it is not. you said yourself that you may like rads "a little better." listen to that! don't make decisions regarding your future career based on perceived ease of a residency.

 

[Caffeinated]

I also struggled with this decision. The struggle for me stemmed from my previous career as an optometrist--obviously ophtho was on my short list. As an undergraduate physics major and someone who enjoyed aspects of almost every rotation in 3rd year, radiology seemed to appeal to both the scientist and the clinician in me while offering a breadth that spanned almost every field of medicine. I enjoyed my rads rotation, and I still think it is a great specialty. Had I not been an optometrist in my former life, I think I would be going for radiology. But my passion for medical and surgical eye care was more powerful than the attractiveness of what radiology offers.

Only you can answer this question for yourself, and it is a tough decision. Best of luck, and try to stay positive.

 

[ckyuen]

Radiology is going to have big pay cut next year. was suppose to be 14% but with congress halting the sgr pay cut they should get about 5% of that back and take about a 9% cut. I'm sure that wont be the last ask any ophtho, orhto, ct surgeon how reimbursements went after the first cut. now where but down. we will be taking a smaller hit in optho about 2-3 % which still sucks. It's pitifull that we celebrate maintaining our current pay structure when inflation goes up 3% a year ie salaries, rent, cost of goods. so we as the physicians are the only ones expected to suck it up and make less in real terms year after year. imagine if you told your staff no raises this year or for the past 4 years, a lot of them would head for the door.