Radiology Lifestyle questions

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aan298

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Hey Guys,

I have seen a few posts with varying information about how current radiologists describe their life. I understand that it depends on which hospital, area and sub-specialty you are in but I thought i'd collect some information for M3s like myself who are looking to go into radiology. I have not yet done my radiology elective, will do in a couple months. Also this is something I am truly interested in so please spare me the "if you love it then none of these questions should matter."
  1. Where do you work (hospital or private practice, and which state)
  2. How quickly do you have to read scans? Are you pressured to read faster or is it relatively at your own pace?
  3. What are your hours, what is call like for you and do you work weekends.
  4. How many weeks of vacation do you get per year?
  5. what do you think, given that you are in the field, will be the future of radiology? Will demand increase? Will reimbursements drop?
  6. What is your salary?
  7. Are you happy?
I appreciate your honest responses. Thank you
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Your first question doesn't make sense. Many hospitals employ a PP group to staff it and many PP have employees who will never be partner. There are also way more types of groups that will impact all of your questions.

You may want to change the question to academic practice ,hospital employee, PP employee, PP partner, PP partnership-track, PE-owned group, telerad, VA.
 
aan298 said:
Hey Guys,

I have seen a few posts with varying information about how current radiologists describe their life. I understand that it depends on which hospital, area and sub-specialty you are in but I thought i'd collect some information for M3s like myself who are looking to go into radiology. I have not yet done my radiology elective, will do in a couple months. Also this is something I am truly interested in so please spare me the "if you love it then none of these questions should matter."
  1. Where do you work (hospital or private practice, and which state)
  2. How quickly do you have to read scans? Are you pressured to read faster or is it relatively at your own pace?
  3. What are your hours, what is call like for you and do you work weekends.
  4. How many weeks of vacation do you get per year?
  5. what do you think, given that you are in the field, will be the future of radiology? Will demand increase? Will reimbursements drop?
  6. What is your salary?
  7. Are you happy?
I appreciate your honest responses. Thank you
Click to expand...

1. Midwest private practice—partner
2. ERs. Goal of 30-60 minutes after they’re scanned. Not always possible based on volume, but that’s generally the expectation. Outpatients no real pressure, just finish by end of day
3. 8-5 weekdays. Decent daily workflow but volume has considerably picked up in the last few years. Call is about 1weekend a month, and is very very busy. To the point of being uncomfortable, and I’m faster than most of the older partners in my group
4. 12 weeks vacation
5. Your guess is as good as mine. I think salary or vacation time will drop a little, but the field is entering a critical shortage nationwide and an aging workforce. Attempts since 2005 to cut imaging utilization have failed miserably and Reliance on imaging has and will only continue to increase with continued mid level encroachment on primary care. I don’t see any major changes ahead aside from ebbs and flows in short term reimbursement changes
6. 500k
7. Lol
 
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Radology said:
1. Midwest private practice—partner
2. ERs. Goal of 30-60 minutes after they’re scanned. Not always possible based on volume, but that’s generally the expectation. Outpatients no real pressure, just finish by end of day
3. 8-5 weekdays. Decent daily workflow but volume has considerably picked up in the last few years. Call is about 1weekend a month, and is very very busy. To the point of being uncomfortable, and I’m faster than most of the older partners in my group
4. 12 weeks vacation
5. Your guess is as good as mine. I think salary or vacation time will drop a little, but the field is entering a critical shortage nationwide and an aging workforce. Attempts since 2005 to cut imaging utilization have failed miserably and Reliance on imaging has and will only continue to increase with continued mid level encroachment on primary care. I don’t see any major changes ahead aside from ebbs and flows in short term reimbursement changes
6. 500k
7. Lol
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Shhhhhhhhh, with posts like this you're going to make radiology super competitive. 😉 were trying to keep it a secret
 
Midwest private group
7 on 7 off evening shift ( not overnight, just late evening)
I’m a fast reader so I don’t feel pressured. You can’t be dead slow in private practice tho cause the group will lose money on you if you’re too slow (like you gotta be really really really slow)
Super happy
Salary 300k but I do lots of locums internally to add another 100-200k and I’m not a partner yet
 
bjb305 said:
Midwest private group
7 on 7 off evening shift ( not overnight, just late evening)
I’m a fast reader so I don’t feel pressured. You can’t be dead slow in private practice tho cause the group will lose money on you if you’re too slow (like you gotta be really really really slow)
Super happy
Salary 300k but I do lots of locums internally to add another 100-200k and I’m not a partner yet
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$300k and in the midwest? Seems low based on what I've heard from the fellows I've talked to.
 
Per my family member who’s an IR attending

1. Academic VIR east coast not in major city
2. High end teritary care IR. Trauma, cancer, filter, women’s health, venous malformation make up about 30-40%. Rest simple stuff.
3. 8-5 overall. It’s a balance. Sometimes I leave at 4pm, other time I leave at 9pm. Call is once a week on the average. Not very busy but you can’t sleep well on those.
4. 3 weeks of vacation (academia). separate CME time
5. Uncleae
6. 350-400k but we are not very busy. More like a lifestyle practice
7. I am happy with the job.
 
I've been preparing my CV for a surgical subspecialty since day 1 of M1 but now that I'm on my surgery rotation I've been having second thoughts ha..I got to work with some radiologists on my IM rotation and I keep thinking back to that..I should probably line up some radiologists to shadow.
 
Mh0311 said:
I've been preparing my CV for a surgical subspecialty since day 1 of M1 but now that I'm on my surgery rotation I've been having second thoughts ha..I got to work with some radiologists on my IM rotation and I keep thinking back to that..I should probably line up some radiologists to shadow.
Click to expand...

Come to the dark side
 
Mh0311 said:
I've been preparing my CV for a surgical subspecialty since day 1 of M1 but now that I'm on my surgery rotation I've been having second thoughts ha..I got to work with some radiologists on my IM rotation and I keep thinking back to that..I should probably line up some radiologists to shadow.
Click to expand...

I was in a very similar situation and ended up switching to and applying DR. Have not regretted it at all.
 
aan298 said:
Hey Guys,

I have seen a few posts with varying information about how current radiologists describe their life. I understand that it depends on which hospital, area and sub-specialty you are in but I thought i'd collect some information for M3s like myself who are looking to go into radiology. I have not yet done my radiology elective, will do in a couple months. Also this is something I am truly interested in so please spare me the "if you love it then none of these questions should matter."
  1. Where do you work (hospital or private practice, and which state)
  2. How quickly do you have to read scans? Are you pressured to read faster or is it relatively at your own pace?
  3. What are your hours, what is call like for you and do you work weekends.
  4. How many weeks of vacation do you get per year?
  5. what do you think, given that you are in the field, will be the future of radiology? Will demand increase? Will reimbursements drop?
  6. What is your salary?
  7. Are you happy?
I appreciate your honest responses. Thank you
Click to expand...
.

Copied from Radology:

1. Midwest private practice—partner
2. ERs. Goal of 30-60 minutes after they’re scanned. Not always possible based on volume, but that’s generally the expectation. Outpatients no real pressure, just finish by end of day
3. 8-5 weekdays. One weekend every two months.
4. >15 weeks vacation
5. Demand will increase. Reimbursement per study will drop. Income will likely stabilize. Advance in tech (image acquisition, AI,...) will make us even more efficient until the day Skynet reaches self awareness.
6. >700k
7. Lol . If I do medicine again, definitely Radiology. But I would pick finance (formally trained) over medicine. I just don't look good in sleeveless vest.
 
Smallfishtinypond said:
.

Copied from Radology:

1. Midwest private practice—partner
2. ERs. Goal of 30-60 minutes after they’re scanned. Not always possible based on volume, but that’s generally the expectation. Outpatients no real pressure, just finish by end of day
3. 8-5 weekdays. One weekend every two months.
4. >15 weeks vacation
5. Demand will increase. Reimbursement per study will drop. Income will likely stabilize. Advance in tech (image acquisition, AI,...) will make us even more efficient until the day Skynet reaches self awareness.
6. >700k
7. Lol . If I do medicine again, definitely Radiology. But I would pick finance (formally trained) over medicine. I just don't look good in sleeveless vest.
Click to expand...
Wow. Are you close to a big city?
 
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Smallfishtinypond said:
.

Copied from Radology:

1. Midwest private practice—partner
2. ERs. Goal of 30-60 minutes after they’re scanned. Not always possible based on volume, but that’s generally the expectation. Outpatients no real pressure, just finish by end of day
3. 8-5 weekdays. One weekend every two months.
4. >15 weeks vacation
5. Demand will increase. Reimbursement per study will drop. Income will likely stabilize. Advance in tech (image acquisition, AI,...) will make us even more efficient until the day Skynet reaches self awareness.
6. >700k
7. Lol . If I do medicine again, definitely Radiology. But I would pick finance (formally trained) over medicine. I just don't look good in sleeveless vest.
Click to expand...
How long did it take for partner?
What were the hours and salary like before making partner?
When you say tiny pond, how tiny are we talking? Like 10k people in flyover midwestern cornfields?
 
aspiring rapper said:
Two friends work 4 days a week one hour outside 10 top city by population making >600k a year with 10 weeks vacation. Is there any other field that matches that?
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I think there are some competitors for that yeah, like Mohs or Retina. But that's a sweet gig.
 
aspiring rapper said:
Straight dr with various fellowships none being ir
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I assume they're partners in their practice, their 4 days are 12 hours long, and they read some insane volume of studies at breakneck pace? That or the salary and work hour surveys are all disgustingly inaccurate.
 
Work hour surveys tend to self select younger doctors, salaries across the board are inaccurate on the low side.
 
Radology said:
Work hour surveys tend to self select younger doctors, salaries across the board are inaccurate on the low side.
Click to expand...
Why do people tell us to use things like MGMA as a gold standard for salary negotiation if they're significantly underestimating?
 
odyssey2 said:
The other surveys underestimate a lot more.
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I dunno MGMA seems pretty much amongst the rest except in flyover country (the other surveys probably show the same phenomenon but are national averages)

MGMA Midwest and South $560k-620k
ECG Management $516,542
Sullivan-M $509,082
MGMA West Coast $498,979
Sullivan-P $488,338
AMGA $487,239
Compdata $475,800
IHS $445,624
MGMA East Coast $437,172
HHCS $428,457
Merritt Hawkins $371,000
 
efle said:
I dunno MGMA seems pretty much amongst the rest except in flyover country (the other surveys probably show the same phenomenon but are national averages)

MGMA Midwest and South $560k-620k
ECG Management $516,542
Sullivan-M $509,082
MGMA West Coast $498,979
Sullivan-P $488,338
AMGA $487,239
Compdata $475,800
IHS $445,624
MGMA East Coast $437,172
HHCS $428,457
Merritt Hawkins $371,000
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. Are the posters here arguing for a mean salary substantially greater than 500k?
 
Mean includes those on partner track, employed by corporate outfits, academics. Traditional private practice models still pay very very well as a partner, but you have to be willing to accept the risk of a private equity sale before partner and be ok accepting a much lower starting pay while on the partner track
 
efle said:
I dunno but I think the post above about 4 days/week for 600k near a city is a pretty big outlier!
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How is $600 an outlier if the median in some regions is $560-620?

Are you referring to the fact it’s 4 days a week? That’s not an uncommon practice in PP. Or the 10 weeks vacation? That’s average to a bit low for PP, but the 4-day work week more than makes up for it. I’d imagine they also have to take some kind of call.
 
thatsrad said:
How is $600 an outlier if the median in some regions is $560-620?

Are you referring to the fact it’s 4 days a week? That’s not an uncommon practice in PP. Or the 10 weeks vacation? That’s average to a bit low for PP, but the 4-day work week more than makes up for it. I’d imagine they also have to take some kind of call.
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The average hours in most surveys is in the high 50s, which is pretty damn hard to pull off on a 4 day week. If the city they're nearby is a city surrounded by cornfields I can buy it!
 
It’s not that outrageous.

9 hour days X 3,
12 hour shifts for Including evening shifts
2 Weekend days q4 weeks

that’s an average of 45 hours a week.

considering many jobs do 5 day work weeks an the schedule is otherwise the same, makes sense to see 50 as an average
 
I stand corrected, I guess I trusted the coastal MGMA data a lot more than I should.
 
This thread is really informative. If anyone else can respond to the OP’s lifestyle survey I’d love to hear more.
 
My job is less common and typically shunned on forums. But, I suppose it may be helpful for newcomers to know what options other than traditional daytime PP can look like. I do ER nights, 1 week on 2 weeks off.

1. Where do you work (hospital or private practice, and which state)
South. Corporate private practice. Partnership-track (not yet partner).

2. How quickly do you have to read scans? Are you pressured to read faster or is it relatively at your own pace?
Being ER, efficiency is important. But, my own pace is fast, so I've never felt pressure.

3. What are your hours, what is call like for you and do you work weekends.
Overnight, 10 hour shifts, 7 in a row followed by 14 off. So, I work 1/3rd of weekends.

4. How many weeks of vacation do you get per year?
No vacation in a formal sense. But, 34 weeks off per year.

5. What do you think, given that you are in the field, will be the future of radiology? Will demand increase? Will reimbursements drop?
Who knows? I think demand will increase and reimbursement will decrease. But how much and how fast remains TBD.

6. What is your salary?
Salary and bonus for 2019, around 450k. But, did quite a bit of moonlighting to boost to over 630k. 401k is an additional 56k.

7. Are you happy?
Yes.
 
Rad2013 said:
Corporate private practice. Partnership-track (not yet partner).
Click to expand...

Not trying to be an ass. But this isn’t a true, equitable private practice. It’s only a “partnership” in the sense that the corporation is partnering with you to provide care. The partner connotation is typically reserved to mean practice owners that profits are split equally among. By definition the corporation is skimming money off your work (and likely a high percentage). Thus “making partner” in a corporation just means a slight pay raise without becoming an equal shareholder. I think this is an important distinction because corporate firms like RadPartners and Envision prey on naive fellows with terminology like this.
 
Corporates actually treat and pay night radiologists better than private practices, from what I’ve seen.

I think corporate jobs are utter crap, but they are the only people who seem to value paying the night rads what they are worth

there are very few private practices that would offer this kind of compensation, and even fewer who would offer true equity partnership to a doc workin 17 weeks a year.

the problem with these setups is that they will cut pay or make it a 26/26 model the literal second the market sours
 
Have the night gigs traditionally flipped back and forth from 1 on 1 off, to 1 on 2 off, based on the market?
 
Night jobs have only existed for about 10 years.

before that, volume was low enough that everyone used telerad for prelim reads

They became more mainstream when the job market was awful, so 1 on 1 off was standard.

once the market improved, nobody would work those jobs hence 1 in 2 (and even some 1 in 3)
 
Kuratz said:
Not trying to be an ass. But this isn’t a true, equitable private practice. It’s only a “partnership” in the sense that the corporation is partnering with you to provide care. The partner connotation is typically reserved to mean practice owners that profits are split equally among. By definition the corporation is skimming money off your work (and likely a high percentage). Thus “making partner” in a corporation just means a slight pay raise without becoming an equal shareholder. I think this is an important distinction because corporate firms like RadPartners and Envision prey on naive fellows with terminology like this.
Click to expand...


I understand the difference between being a partner in the traditional model vs being a partner in the corporate model. Maybe a new term should be created for "partner" in corporate groups so we can get beyond people constantly making this distinction. Although, I do acknowledge that it's important to understand.

Maybe my corporate group is different? (Naive statement, I know) But, had I been a "partner" this year, I would have made around $850k, not including 401k and employer paid benefits. That's still with having over half the year off. I feel valued.
 
Rad2013 said:
I understand the difference between being a partner in the traditional model vs being a partner in the corporate model. Maybe a new term should be created for "partner" in corporate groups so we can get beyond people constantly making this distinction. Although, I do acknowledge that it's important to understand.

Maybe my corporate group is different? (Naive statement, I know) But, had I been a "partner" this year, I would have made around $850k, not including 401k and employer paid benefits. That's still with having over half the year off. I feel valued.
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How long is the pseudopartner (if you will) track you're on? 850k for working 1 on 2 off sounds absolutely incredible!
 
3 years

To clarify, it’s not 850k for 1 on/2 off. I was saying if I did the 1 on/2 off schedule plus the same amount of moonlighting I did in 2019, it would have been around 850k as a partner. With about 27 weeks off. Rather than 34.

If that makes sense.
 
Rad2013 said:
3 years

To clarify, it’s not 850k for 1 on/2 off. I was saying if I did the 1 on/2 off schedule plus the same amount of moonlighting I did in 2019, it would have been around 850k as a partner. With about 27 weeks off. Rather than 34.

If that makes sense.
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It makes sense, but still sounds like you'd still be clearing ~600k on 1:2 after a few years?

Does being a nightowl really pay that much? I find myself defaulting to a 3:30am-10:30am sleep schedule on breaks so this whole niche is extremely intriguing to me. Shifting my sleep pattern by a couple hours every few weeks to work less than part-time is like a fantasy.
 
+1 to the above poster in a night job. im a current fellow who just signed private practice night job contract in major east coast city near hometown. working 1 on 2 off, 8-9 hour shift, 2 year partner track, drastically less volume than day or other night gigs, work alongside my best friend from residency (already a partner in group), starting plus signing bonus in low 400s, moonlighting from home on off weeks increases starting salary to around 450, after becoming partner 550K+ and option to read remotely. moral of the story, dont settle for high rvu based jobs in pp, corporate pe (ie radpartners, vrad) or academics which is even worse in my opinion.

the dream exists....any more questions pm me. fwiw im a single unmarried male who always has been a night owl and plan to enjoy my time off traveling a lot and get involved with some side business gigs with friends.
 
hoodfigga1 said:
+1 to the above poster in a night job. im a current fellow who just signed private practice night job contract in major east coast city near hometown. working 1 on 2 off, 8-9 hour shift, 2 year partner track, drastically less volume than day or other night gigs, work alongside my best friend from residency (already a partner in group), starting plus signing bonus in low 400s, moonlighting from home on off weeks increases starting salary to around 450, after becoming partner 550K+ and option to read remotely. moral of the story, dont settle for high rvu based jobs in pp, corporate pe (ie radpartners, vrad) or academics which is even worse in my opinion.

the dream exists....any more questions pm me. fwiw im a single unmarried male who always has been a night owl and plan to enjoy my time off traveling a lot and get involved with some side business gigs with friends.
Click to expand...

Congrats bro that sounds awesome
 
hoodfigga1 said:
+1 to the above poster in a night job. im a current fellow who just signed private practice night job contract in major east coast city near hometown. working 1 on 2 off, 8-9 hour shift, 2 year partner track, drastically less volume than day or other night gigs, work alongside my best friend from residency (already a partner in group), starting plus signing bonus in low 400s, moonlighting from home on off weeks increases starting salary to around 450, after becoming partner 550K+ and option to read remotely. moral of the story, dont settle for high rvu based jobs in pp, corporate pe (ie radpartners, vrad) or academics which is even worse in my opinion.

the dream exists....any more questions pm me. fwiw im a single unmarried male who always has been a night owl and plan to enjoy my time off traveling a lot and get involved with some side business gigs with friends.
Click to expand...
How'd you find this gig?
 
appreciate all of the feedback and pms of which i received a ton so i will try to make this a follow up post (long rant) and answer many of those questions and respond to comments (sorry am currently on call this weekend)...

crazy mixed opinions about the job market on here and other forums which is understandable given the cyclical nature of radiology in the past however a few caveats. although it is cyclical this is a simple supply and demand issue. the volume of imaging studies being ordered is literally f****** outrageous as many of you will see when you start residency. because of the"cover your ass" type of medicine practiced in this country (as opposed to evidenced based medicine) and the incompetency/stupidity of many clinicians (especially from the ED) this spike in volume is nearing borderline dangerous levels in our field in terms of what is manageable on any given shift without missing critical findings. I can speak to this as someone who has been training in NYC for the past 6 years. most academic centers are scanning nonstop throughout the night and even outpatients until late evening hours which adds to this mess. my point is just based on volume and reliance for diagnosis by other clinicians alone there will forever be an increasing need for us and there will be no scarcity of jobs in the near future. now for those scared about AI i would start by saying if you really enjoy radiology more than any other fields in medicine do not let AI deter you from pursuing this as a career. as a matter of fact i would honestly not be in medicine at all if not for radiology.

AI will most definitely play a big role in our work probably very soon but in our lifetimes i do not see it replacing physicians for several reasons which are too long to discuss here. you can google the study out of the UK which demonstrated AI as "superior" to radiologists at reading mammograms overall however if you look close there were instances where all radiologists found a cancer while the AI software missed it and vice versa. point of this is AI mechanisms of learning and pattern recognition are still very variable and different than how a trained radiologist performs the same task. for general AI to replace us as a whole means AI would replace pretty much 90% of jobs so noone will feel sorry for radiologists.... In the UK mammograms are double read by 2 trained radiologists and their goal will become to use AI to help manage large volumes and possibly serve as this "double read" IMHO. secondly for now no software or tech company is going to be willing to accept the liability/malpracctice costs that go along with replacing a board certified MD read with a scan read by AI (at least in the near future), case in point we already have computers reading EKGs yet an MD still is required to sign off on them....

my opinion on jobs is biased because i trained at an insanely heavy volume center with not enough attending coverage (also did 1 year of surgery) so at this point i am basically burnt out, hate most people in medicine, have high med school debt and have just finally only been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. i really feel like different jobs are suited for different personalities and you have to find what is most important to you before making the decision. what i have experienced is day jobs private practice jobs and academic jobs all pretty much increasing RVU requirements with little vacation time (avg 6 weeks/year in academics) more teaching and interdisciplinary conference requirements (which i personally dont give a s*** about) for less pay (decreasing reimbursements) especially in major cities with already saturated markets. if being in an "elite/academic" setting or teaching or trying to "advance" the field are important to you then academics may suit you (also if you come from money or money is not a concern). personally i decided my sanity and free time and money were more important that any of the above so i went with my job and nights IMO are the some of the only jobs in rads where attendings have autonomy in terms of what they are required to read and how much. now i had a hookup because my former coresident already had been working there plus it is in the city near where i grew up so i had geographical ties to the region however 1 on 2 off is not uncommon to find. i definitely have a sweeter gig than other similar positions that are posted on forums or ACR. the best jobs are going to be found rather through networking and personal connections. as far as salary right now a newly fellowship trained rad should receive anywhere from 300-350k starting but nothing below that unless its part time (speaking only about day positions). anything higher has to be taken with a grain of salt for example i had another job offer from my home medical school however they were asking me to cover more ED and essentially id be working alone which is a recipe for burnout right out of fellowship.

il end on a bright note for all you young eager med students as i was once on these forums asking the same questions and scared about the future. recent ACR estimates showed that nearly half of practicing radiologists are above 55 and nearing retirement age (many are older who stuck around and kept their jobs after 2008 recession because they lost money or retirement assets and thats why the job market was bad in the early mid 2010s. so theoretically many should retire in the next 5-10 years probably as you near the end of training and ofc the aging population continues to increase which only means even higher volumes....so we are and will continue to be desperately needed as is evidenced by the the barrage of phone calls and emails i get daily from physician recruiters.

feel free to keep this thread going or pm me with additional qs. best of luck and dont let negative outsiders or perception about this field sway you if you actually genuinely enjoy rads. if anyone needs reassurance just remember this is the only profession in medicine where you can make pretty much top 10-15% salary of all physicians, work from home in your F****** underwear, never have to touch a patient, and have 2/3 of the year off....all of which i am looking forward to experiencing in 6 months 😉
 
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hoodfigga1 said:
appreciate all of the feedback and pms of which i received a ton so i will try to make this a follow up post (long rant) and answer many of those questions and respond to comments (sorry am currently on call this weekend)...

crazy mixed opinions about the job market on here and other forums which is understandable given the cyclical nature of radiology in the past however a few caveats. although it is cyclical this is a simple supply and demand issue. the volume of imaging studies being ordered is literally f****** outrageous as many of you will see when you start residency. because of the"cover your ass" type of medicine practiced in this country (as opposed to evidenced based medicine) and the incompetency/stupidity of many clinicians (especially from the ED) this spike in volume is nearing borderline dangerous levels in our field in terms of what is manageable on any given shift without missing critical findings. I can speak to this as someone who has been training in NYC for the past 6 years. most academic centers are scanning nonstop throughout the night and even outpatients until late evening hours which adds to this mess. my point is just based on volume and reliance for diagnosis by other clinicians alone there will forever be an increasing need for us and there will be no scarcity of jobs in the near future. now for those scared about AI i would start by saying if you really enjoy radiology more than any other fields in medicine do not let AI deter you from pursuing this as a career. as a matter of fact i would honestly not be in medicine at all if not for radiology.

AI will most definitely play a big role in our work probably very soon but in our lifetimes i do not see it replacing physicians for several reasons which are too long to discuss here. you can google the study out of the UK which demonstrated AI as "superior" to radiologists at reading mammograms overall however if you look close there were instances where all radiologists found a cancer while the AI software missed it and vice versa. point of this is AI mechanisms of learning and pattern recognition are still very variable and different than how a trained radiologist performs the same task. for general AI to replace us as a whole means AI would replace pretty much 90% of jobs so noone will feel sorry for radiologists.... In the UK mammograms are double read by 2 trained radiologists and their goal will become to use AI to help manage large volumes and possibly serve as this "double read" IMHO. secondly for now no software or tech company is going to be willing to accept the liability/malpracctice costs that go along with replacing a board certified MD read with a scan read by AI (at least in the near future), case in point we already have computers reading EKGs yet an MD still is required to sign off on them....

my opinion on jobs is biased because i trained at an insanely heavy volume center with not enough attending coverage (also did 1 year of surgery) so at this point i am basically burnt out, hate most people in medicine, have high med school debt and have just finally only been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. i really feel like different jobs are suited for different personalities and you have to find what is most important to you before making the decision. what i have experienced is day jobs private practice jobs and academic jobs all pretty much increasing RVU requirements with little vacation time (avg 6 weeks/year in academics) more teaching and interdisciplinary conference requirements (which i personally dont give a s*** about) for less pay (decreasing reimbursements) especially in major cities with already saturated markets. if being in an "elite/academic" setting or teaching or trying to "advance" the field are important to you then academics may suit you (also if you come from money or money is not a concern). personally i decided my sanity and free time and money were more important that any of the above so i went with my job and nights IMO are the some of the only jobs in rads where attendings have autonomy in terms of what they are required to read and how much. now i had a hookup because my former coresident already had been working there plus it is in the city near where i grew up so i had geographical ties to the region however 1 on 2 off is not uncommon to find. i definitely have a sweeter gig than other similar positions that are posted on forums or ACR. the best jobs are going to be found rather through networking and personal connections. as far as salary right now a newly fellowship trained rad should receive anywhere from 300-350k starting but nothing below that unless its part time (speaking only about day positions). anything higher has to be taken with a grain of salt for example i had another job offer from my home medical school however they were asking me to cover more ED and essentially id be working alone which is a recipe for burnout right out of fellowship.

il end on a bright note for all you young eager med students as i was once on these forums asking the same questions and scared about the future. recent ACR estimates showed that nearly half of practicing radiologists are above 55 and nearing retirement age (many are older who stuck around and kept their jobs after 2008 recession because they lost money or retirement assets and thats why the job market was bad in the early mid 2010s. so theoretically many should retire in the next 5-10 years probably as you near the end of training and ofc the aging population continues to increase which only means even higher volumes....so we are and will continue to be desperately needed as is evidenced by the the barrage of phone calls and emails i get daily from physician recruiters.

feel free to keep this thread going or pm me with additional qs. best of luck and dont let negative outsiders or perception about this field sway you if you actually genuinely enjoy rads. if anyone needs reassurance just remember this is the only profession in medicine where you can make pretty much top 10-15% salary of all physicians, work from home in your F****** underwear, never have to touch a patient, and have 2/3 of the year off....all of which i am looking forward to experiencing in 6 months 😉
Click to expand...
This sounds sweet. Any chance big hospitals or PP groups would hire IRs for overnight jobs like this in the future as their role keeps expanding? Almost for the utility of something like a hospitalist, for the emergent call stuff...
 
Honestly the only thing that pisses me off to no end is how little control we have. ED docs order every ****ing thing under the sky because they cannot make any diagnosis without imaging and we have no say what they order.
 
Just a few questions that have come up reading this thread.

It seems like some radiology contracts give 12ish weeks of vacation, is it possible to pick up extra shifts?

Does IR pay less then DR considering the recent reimbursement cuts, MGMA data looked like IR was consistently 50-100k more.
 
libertyyne said:
Just a few questions that have come up reading this thread.

It seems like some radiology contracts give 12ish weeks of vacation, is it possible to pick up extra shifts?

Does IR pay less then DR considering the recent reimbursement cuts, MGMA data looked like IR was consistently 50-100k more.
Click to expand...

1. Yes

2. Pay is often redistributed throughout a group by some mechanism—if it were not for this, you would see imbalances in pay even between diagnostic subspecialties. Anyway, to answer your question while DR generates more in a group, IR pay is often higher because they take more call.
 
Just out of curiosity, not in medicine, but why isn't radiology by far the most competitive specialty in medicine?
Making 850k as a partner with 27 weeks off seems like a dream job... derm, ortho, neurosurg etc. can't even size up to that

Is there a catch (other than night shift)?
 
Because a job paying 850k doesn’t exist outside of rural Alaska . To a med student, that sounds possible to work like a dog and do that indefinitely. But that schedule is not compatible with having a normal, happy life. You will get older, and you will burn out

and majority of jobs are still academic and corporate private practice which have less vacation and max out at 450

It’s a very call heavy field and you’ll sacrifice an evening a week and a weekend a month.

no patient contact, which is a plus for me, but a nonstarter for others

typically one of the least respected fields in medicine, so people with egos can’t do it

although I find it funny that AI is probably scaring off more students than anything, even though were more likely to profit off AI than be negatively impacted by it
 
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