Radiology vs PM&R ??

[GamerTheRock]

Hey Guys,

How are you? I'm an MS4 I applied to PM&R and Radiology. I'm really having difficulty coming down to which specialty I should go towards. Looking for some sort of direction to make my decision a little bit easier. I would like to know the following :

1 - What you think the future for the field holds? - Jobs etc

2 - How hard is it to get an IR fellowship? - I enjoy doing procedures + some patients interaction- I believe I can still get that in MSK and BODY ??

3- PP vs Academic .. FLEXIBILITY (Life/work balance). ?

4 -Would radiologist eventually just be an employee under a hospital or big rad groups?

5- What is the average compensation like? Will it be going down? - I am from the tri-state east coast

6 - Something you could change about the field or don't enjoy it?

Thank you, Any thoughts, comments or point me in some sort of direction would be appreciated.

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[stcl]

Since you're an MS4, I'm assuming you mean you already interviewed and are deciding on your rank list now?

It's impossible to accurately predict the future of compensation in a specialty, so the most important advice is to pick which specialty you enjoy most. PM&R involves quite a bit of working with people with disabilities in residency, with lots of inpatient months. It's important work, but not everyone can handle that type of patient care.

Overall, residency is probably slightly harder in PM&R, but PM&R attendings have it easier (easier to do M-F with no overnight call besides phone call). Those are very broad generalizations, and can differ based on where you do residency and attending jobs.

Some of the outpatient interventional folks in PM&R can do very well financially, similar to radiology income or higher if they develop a very successful private practice, but overall radiology is higher income on average with more hours worked and more vacation. Again, there is tremendous variation, so I feel it's more important to choose the specialty you can see yourself practicing in the future. I won't post numbers on a public forum like this, but go to your school's library and get the MGMA data on salary so you can see the numbers.

I assume tri-state East coast means NY/NJ/CT? If so, that's one of the lowest regions for physician incomes, so likely income will be lower than the MGMA averages.

 

[Timtom98]

Since you're an MS4, I'm assuming you mean you already interviewed and are deciding on your rank list now?

It's impossible to accurately predict the future of compensation in a specialty, so the most important advice is to pick which specialty you enjoy most. PM&R involves quite a bit of working with people with disabilities in residency, with lots of inpatient months. It's important work, but not everyone can handle that type of patient care.

Overall, residency is probably slightly harder in PM&R, but PM&R attendings have it easier (easier to do M-F with no overnight call besides phone call). Those are very broad generalizations, and can differ based on where you do residency and attending jobs.

Some of the outpatient interventional folks in PM&R can do very well financially, similar to radiology income or higher if they develop a very successful private practice, but overall radiology is higher income on average with more hours worked and more vacation. Again, there is tremendous variation, so I feel it's more important to choose the specialty you can see yourself practicing in the future. I won't post numbers on a public forum like this, but go to your school's library and get the MGMA data on salary so you can see the numbers.

I assume tri-state East coast means NY/NJ/CT? If so, that's one of the lowest regions for physician incomes, so likely income will be lower than the MGMA averages.

Do procedures make more in private practice if I go MSK?

M4 as well, just curious which fellowship I should be looking at. Since we only get to work in academic side of radiology. Not sure how life is for each specialty in private practice!

 

[sdnuser001]

I'm a pgy3 pm&r resident currently applying to pain fellowships and at my institution the radiology residency is significantly more demanding. At least at my program we have no night float unlike rads and our in house call gives us a post call day that you can actually enjoy as the majority of time you get enough sleep at night. Also radiology is wayyy more study intensive. A lot of my co residents have only formally started studying in pgy4 year closer to actual boards unlike my radiology friends who are studying all the time. I was in between rads and pm&r in med school but am very happy with the choice I made. I may or may not match pain but there are more than enough spine/msk fellowships that teach similar procedures and still lead to good jobs if you are willing to cast a wider net.

 

[changeofheart2016]

radiology is a harder match if you need to take that into consideration.

 

[Timtom98]

I'm a pgy3 pm&r resident currently applying to pain fellowships and at my institution the radiology residency is significantly more demanding. At least at my program we have no night float unlike rads and our in house call gives us a post call day that you can actually enjoy as the majority of time you get enough sleep at night. Also radiology is wayyy more study intensive. A lot of my co residents have only formally started studying in pgy4 year closer to actual boards unlike my radiology friends who are studying all the time. I was in between rads and pm&r in med school but am very happy with the choice I made. I may or may not match pain but there are more than enough spine/msk fellowships that teach similar procedures and still lead to good jobs if you are willing to cast a wider net.

whats the salary difference like as an attending??

 

[sdnuser001]

whats the salary difference like as an attending??

Well general PMR is low to mid 200s but interventional is almost double

 

[Sea Otter]

Well general PMR is low to mid 200s but interventional is almost double

And if you are private practice PM&R you can get north of 300k