Psychiatry salary

[Kalogada]

Hello, I’m a MS3 deciding on whether I want to do psych or EM. What is the salary like? My attending told me right around 280k. Just would like to hear everyones thoughts.

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[annoyedpsychiatrist]

310k is the average per medscape but the salary is highly variable in psychiatry. That being said ive seen plenty of advertised jobs >300k.

 

[Kalogada]

310k is the average per medscape but the salary is highly variable in psychiatry. That being said ive seen plenty of advertised jobs >300k.

How much of that is inpatient?

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Here's the thread literally right below yours:

Graduating psych residents…Job offers

Give a resident some light. Tell us your starting offers. 1.Location 2. Outpatient/inpatient/ PHP etc 3. Salary and benefits 4. Hours and patients to be seen

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[TexasPhysician]

All of medicine has a HUGE range. $120K-$1 million+ is all possible.

 

[Bartelby]

I would say $280k with benefits is not way off. Depending on your location and the type of job (academic, private practice, etc) you could expect plus or minus $50k of that number. Those who work hard and emphasize earnings can go significantly higher.

You have probably already done this but take a look at the EM forums. I think the average psychiatrist seems to be more happy with their choice than the average EM physician at the moment.

 

[sloop]

Hello, I’m a MS3 deciding on whether I want to do psych or EM. What is the salary like? My attending told me right around 280k. Just would like to hear everyones thoughts.

I am a state worker at a hospital in a highly saturated area and make almost exactly this much. No call, can take call for extra money if desired. Pension. State Holidays off, etc.

If you want to do locums or similar, you can make outrageous amounts of money. Some of those jobs are not even that unstable.

 

[Merovinge]

Probably a bit lower than EM on the average and probably with dramatically better life satisfaction and less burn out. With how EM has been going, by the time you are an attending, that may change further. Med students always drift towards the higher paying fields but they can and do change over time, with EM almost assuredly dropping after being flavor of the month 1-2 decades ago. That's a slightly complicated way of saying if these are the only two fields you are considering, I would certainly pick the one you enjoy more/can tolerate the median patient more.

 

[comp1]

$280k is reasonable not counting any sort of benefits. EM and psych are pretty dissimilar in terms of lifestyle, even if comparing to psych ED or inpatient. Definitely don't make this decision based on salary. I can't tell from your post if that's where your mind was headed, but it shouldn't. You can make a lot of money by working hard in either.

 

[clozareal]

I feel like one number would be oversimplifying the entire compensation package and what people typically want out of their jobs. Would you be happy with $500k working 60 hours per week or $300k working 30? You would technically be making more per hour with the 30 hour a week job everything else being equal but the 60 hour a week would be like working 2 jobs (3-4x for me since I do 15-20 clinical hours per week).

I've seen the range of pay for full time (meaning about 30-35 clinical hours not including admin time) being $180-$400k, with some outliers in the $500-800k range. Academics are going to be on the lower end of the range and private practice whereas jail/prison and locums are on the higher end.

Psychiatry is a really nice job since the stress can be low, the work life balance is great, the pay decent, and the longevity of the career high.

 

[ObsequiousAplomb]

It's medicine. You can make whatever you want. No matter the specialty, you can accept job offers less than $200k if it really appeals to you. You can also form a solo practice and charge more than $1000 per hour. You can work any job at any compensation in between, depending on how exactly your work is set up. Most people would make $280k-600k throughout all of the specialties (maybe not internal medicine or some of the pediatric specialties) at 40 hours per work. As others have said, that range is entirely within 20-70 hours per week in psychiatry, just like it is in most specialties that don't involve an operating room. It all depends on what you charge to the person who pays you.

 

[clozareal]

I thought you were this other person that posted in the EM subforum. Looks like the EPs there are warning her NOT to do EM.

Would you recommend EM?

Very undecided third year medical student deciding what specialty to go into because I have found that I like A LOT EM physicians what do you think about your work-life balance with shift work and salary compensation? I am a women, who is interested in having a family so wanting to make sure I...

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[Kalogada]

I thought you were this other person that posted in the EM subforum. Looks like the EPs there are warning her NOT to do EM.

Would you recommend EM?

Very undecided third year medical student deciding what specialty to go into because I have found that I like A LOT EM physicians what do you think about your work-life balance with shift work and salary compensation? I am a women, who is interested in having a family so wanting to make sure I...

forums.studentdoctor.net

Nope not me lol. I think many med students are drawn into the procedures and pace of EM. I think there is enough writing on the wall for me to be very wary of going into EM. I want to choose something that if lifestyle heavy, allows me to make as much money as I want with how much I work, and to make a meaningful impact in my patients lives.

 

[clozareal]

Nope not me lol. I think many med students are drawn into the procedures and pace of EM. I think there is enough writing on the wall for me to be very wary of going into EM. I want to choose something that if lifestyle heavy, allows me to make as much money as I want with how much I work, and to make a meaningful impact in my patients lives.

Then Psychiatry is for you.

 

[J ROD]

I have made over 600 K per year and then scaled back to make a projected 400 K. The key one has to understand is salary is mostly wRVU based on each patient you see. So, more you see more you make. Some places cap you. I tend not to work at those places lol. That being said. all my jobs have been 40 hr per week. Last one had me working weekends about every 5 weeks which is not ideal and higher volume that I wanted. Demand is high and lifestyle is better. Can always do EM psych as well. Just was in conversation for a pure EM psych job for base of 330K.

 

[J ROD]

Plenty of part time jobs you can do as well to add to primary job. Can easily do telework from home as well. All my EM buddies are envious. The shiftwork gets old as you get older. One reason I chose not to do the EM psych job. I like the work better but the work does not like me. My body cannot handle work nights and flipping back and forth anymore.

 

[Kalogada]

Thanks everyone, I think I have made my decision!