Here's an pointless exercise: create your own acronym for what you consider to be the specialties most antithetical to the ROAD. The worst lifestyle, worst hours, etc.
Create an acronym for posterity and aid future doctors in avoiding the quagmires.
The trouble is, the "quagmires" are the fields that we need MORE of. When your 2 week old spikes a 101 degree fever, are you going to call your neighborhood dermatologist for advice? When you have appendicitis or a surgical abdomen, is your ophthalmologist going to take care of you?
Trying to figure out ways of steering pre-meds into avoiding primary care and surgery because they either don't reimburse well or have difficult hours is really "the pointless exercise" in my opinion.
So is it safe to say that everyone [except masochists] will avoid the THONGs?
Not necessarily.
I have almost yet to meet an unhappy orthopedic surgeon. The residents are a little overworked, but it's very hard to find open residency spots. It has a very good retention rate - once people match into ortho, they seem happy enough to stay there.
Thoracic surgery isn't a bad field, hours wise. Not a lot of emergencies, decent reimbursement, hours aren't terrible.
And not everyone is tripping over themselves to do the ROAD specialties either.
- I spent an afternoon in the radiology reading room - about 4 hours, from what I'm told. I only remember the first ten minutes of it...I found it so boring that I spent most of the time daydreaming, planning my next vacation, etc.
- I liked ophtho. But just examining the eye gets a little boring. And I didn't like fitting people for glasses. "Is it better 1, or 2? Is it better 1, or 2?"
- Anesthesia isn't for me. The "long stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror" just seemed way too unpredictable and like too much stress.
- Derm....rashes freak me out, because (in my over-worked imagination) all rashes are contagious until proven otherwise. And, in derm, you see all the weird rashes that the patient's PCP couldn't figure out. No thanks.
Do what you enjoy. I've met extremely happy, satisfied neurosurgeons, and have also met grumpy, cranky, angry-at-the-universe radiologists. Money and free time aren't everything.