orthopedic vs. general surgery

[ribcrackindoc]

People have claimed that:
Historically:
General Surgery = very competitive and
Ortho used to be easy to get into.

Today they are reversed (gen. surgery is easy to get into and ortho is very competitive). Why is that???
Is it that the salaries have flipflopped???

Another question: Will it reverse again one day???
What will cause this future reverse????

Does anyone understand what causes these changes???

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[medicnas]

More people enjoy playing with powertools now

You're probably onto something with the salaries:

Median GS salary (Nov. issue of Dermatology, salary comparison): 250k.
Mean ortho (see the "how much will we make?", this is from the website somebody posted): 350k.

Also, from personal experience I think that the bell curve for ortho is also a lot flatter and skewed to the right (higher incomes). So...basically, it's not a bell anymore

 

[medicnas]

Oh, I forgot to address the future:

Ortho, IMO, will change more in the next 30 years than most other specialties. Why? Well, the majority of ortho procedures will be made obsolete as tissue engineering research progresses. Think about it: when they can just (and to me it really is a when, not an IF) inject osteoprogenitor cells into areas of worn cartilage and broken bones, immobilize the area and wait a few weeks for everything to return to as good as new...what need will there be to use a screw/plate to do the same thing (except worse)? Of course, acute ortho will probably not change that much...but that's a pretty small fraction of total ortho.

BTW: I want to go into ortho...mainly because I enjoy playing with power tools I dunno what I'll do when it changes...probably retire and open a cabinetry/furniture store and teach in my spare time.

 

[cmz]

I thought that this thread might be better served over in the "Surgery and Surgical Subs" forum.