PM&R vs. Psychiatry

[prominence]

Which specialty has a better lifestyle and better income potential?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[erichaj]

I would have to put my vote in for PM&R.

 

[Analyzethis]

It completely depends-I think both of those give you the ability to work as much or as little as possible. In both you can have a 9-5, m-f with no call and the paywould be pretty similar-you can also work more or get involved in opening your own practice, consulting etc (atleast in psych-not familiar enough with pmnr) but both afford you opportunities for no call, 35-40 hour work weeks for 175-200k a year-if you wanna put in more time than the more you make

 

[Llenroc]

Interesting. I'm trying to make the same decision myself. I think for me lifestyle issues are key. Both PM&R and Psychiatry are excellent in that respect.

 

[zinjanthropus]

Interesting. I'm trying to make the same decision myself. I think for me lifestyle issues are key. Both PM&R and Psychiatry are excellent in that respect.

well if you really can't decide, maybe you could do psych and then do a pain fellowship since it sorta exists in the same arena as PM&R

 

[Neurotica]

I think as far as the lifestyle, both are about equal. I've met with various PM&R docs and psychiatrists who are all very satisfied with how much time they have to themselves. Also, both don't have to deal with terrible call nights (the residents I worked with in each of these fields did home call and said that it wasn't even usually too busy). As far as income, both these fields offer the chance for greater pay simply by putting in more hours. That being said, I think PM&R has the potential for higher income because of the procedures you can do. Psych really has no procedures besides ECT. Plus if you look up the mean salaries for the fields in various surveys, PM&R is usually about $20,000 higher. Since that's not all that much, it really comes down to seeing what interests you more--mind or body? One thing I noticed is that a lot of DO students go into PM&R because I think their training makes them well-suited for PM&R.

 

[stretch210]

Not sure if anyone of the previous posters are doing this, but I did want to point out that neither PM&R nor Psych is a good field to go into if you are solely looking for good hours and reasonable pay. In both fields you will be spending a great deal of time with disgruntled patients. If this is not what you wanted to do, but instead just wanted the weekends off, those 40 hours a week are goiing to be soooo miserable that you wished you had call and worked more hours in another field.

There are many other fields that pay much more and have similar choices with hours...look into ALL of them if lifestyle is a priority for you. Just my two cents.

 

[Neurotica]

There are many other fields that pay much more and have similar choices with hours...look into ALL of them if lifestyle is a priority for you. Just my two cents.

That's true, but another thing to keep in mind is that psych and PM&R are less competitive than most of those other fields you're talking about. Derm is out of the reach of everyone except for a select few, and radiology is also competitive to get into (though of course much better than derm). I guess pathology would be another one to look into though, pathologists have quite the lifestyle.

 

[stretch210]

Neurotica,
Absolutely! That is true, but my main point was that your life could become VERY miserable dealing with a patient population that is difficult, and end up not being worth it.

Good thing about medicine is there are so many ways to go. To choose SOLELY on the basis of hours worked is a huge mistake...Just those 5 mentioned Rads, Derm, PM&R, Psych, and Path are sooo different. Besides, there are even more than just these five things you can go into that can provide you with good hours and a great life.

Point is...do what you are going to enjoy, because otherwise it won't matter how many hours you are working, you will not be happy.

 

[Llenroc]

Not sure if anyone of the previous posters are doing this, but I did want to point out that neither PM&R nor Psych is a good field to go into if you are solely looking for good hours and reasonable pay. In both fields you will be spending a great deal of time with disgruntled patients. If this is not what you wanted to do, but instead just wanted the weekends off, those 40 hours a week are goiing to be soooo miserable that you wished you had call and worked more hours in another field.

There are many other fields that pay much more and have similar choices with hours...look into ALL of them if lifestyle is a priority for you. Just my two cents.

Yeah right, have you done your surgery rotation yet? The surgeons here are the nastiest, nastiest mother****ers I've ever met, and I say that as someone whose worked on Wall St. before.

Now patients being disgruntled? That I can deal with.

Also I don't think there's anything in the world that would make me want to make more hours or take more call. I think I can do anything for 8 hours a day (except OB/GYN and General Surgery which just flat out suck ), but I have little interest in working more than that. I probably can't get into Dermatology, and Pathology and Radiology are fields I'm not interested in.

 

[Disciple]

Not sure if anyone of the previous posters are doing this, but I did want to point out that neither PM&R nor Psych is a good field to go into if you are solely looking for good hours and reasonable pay. In both fields you will be spending a great deal of time with disgruntled patients.

It doesn't necessarily have to be that way with PM&R.

1. "Spine" clinic for interventional procedures
2. EMG/NCS
3. Sports Med with musculoskeletal ultrasound

or any combination thereof.

The Spine/Sports/Musculoskeletal Revolution, going strong in PM&R since 1993:
http://www.aapmr.org/resident/newslttr/058d.htm

 

[rirriri]

PMNR....by a big country mile.