Rads residency in USA or Europe

[Ivos]

TLDR; Should I do residency in the US to learn radiology better?

Hi everyone!

I live in a european country with basically no medical litigation. Medical imaging is done for diagnostic purposes and not litigation, with tight controls of radiation doses for the patients. Radiologists (and doctors in general) are well compensated for the cost of living here and only work 40-50h/w. I have basically no student loans, due to free tuition. One problem here is a long waiting time (2-4 years) before being able to start specialty training.
Going through med school I'm starting to realise that I want to be a radiologist, and that there is so much to learn. I'm also starting to realise that I work best under a bit of pressure, and that there is very little pressure to achieve here.

So I started to look across the pond. You guys have a working situation that looks slightly horrible, but also good in some ways. Radiologists are even better compensated (and yes I know it's decreasing, it's still better and I have no loans), and a lot more images to read. You have to work more, but on the other hand you get to work more and thus become better at reading. You also have to be more careful and thus write longer/more detailed answers. I could (theoretically) get a residency spot and start specialty training right after graduating, more or less.

So I want to be really good at reading. I will probably end up pretty good regardless of where I go, it'll just take longer here. What would you guys do in my position? Would you trade income and skills for more free time if you could?

Thank you.

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[pathologyDO]

TLDR; Should I do residency in the US to learn radiology better?

Hi everyone!

I live in a european country with basically no medical litigation. Medical imaging is done for diagnostic purposes and not litigation, with tight controls of radiation doses for the patients. Radiologists (and doctors in general) are well compensated for the cost of living here and only work 40-50h/w. I have basically no student loans, due to free tuition. One problem here is a long waiting time (2-4 years) before being able to start specialty training.
Going through med school I'm starting to realise that I want to be a radiologist, and that there is so much to learn. I'm also starting to realise that I work best under a bit of pressure, and that there is very little pressure to achieve here.

So I started to look across the pond. You guys have a working situation that looks slightly horrible, but also good in some ways. Radiologists are even better compensated (and yes I know it's decreasing, it's still better and I have no loans), and a lot more images to read. You have to work more, but on the other hand you get to work more and thus become better at reading. You also have to be more careful and thus write longer/more detailed answers. I could (theoretically) get a residency spot and start specialty training right after graduating, more or less.

So I want to be really good at reading. I will probably end up pretty good regardless of where I go, it'll just take longer here. What would you guys do in my position? Would you trade income and skills for more free time if you could?

Thank you.

'merica.

 

[shark2000]

TLDR; Should I do residency in the US to learn radiology better?

Hi everyone!

I live in a european country with basically no medical litigation. Medical imaging is done for diagnostic purposes and not litigation, with tight controls of radiation doses for the patients. Radiologists (and doctors in general) are well compensated for the cost of living here and only work 40-50h/w. I have basically no student loans, due to free tuition. One problem here is a long waiting time (2-4 years) before being able to start specialty training.
Going through med school I'm starting to realise that I want to be a radiologist, and that there is so much to learn. I'm also starting to realise that I work best under a bit of pressure, and that there is very little pressure to achieve here.

So I started to look across the pond. You guys have a working situation that looks slightly horrible, but also good in some ways. Radiologists are even better compensated (and yes I know it's decreasing, it's still better and I have no loans), and a lot more images to read. You have to work more, but on the other hand you get to work more and thus become better at reading. You also have to be more careful and thus write longer/more detailed answers. I could (theoretically) get a residency spot and start specialty training right after graduating, more or less.

So I want to be really good at reading. I will probably end up pretty good regardless of where I go, it'll just take longer here. What would you guys do in my position? Would you trade income and skills for more free time if you could?

Thank you.

Choose based on where you want to live. There is much much much more in life than being good at reading images or having a well compensated job.

We are not talking about a third world country versus US. The quality of life in Sweden is at least as good as US. However, these are two different societies and it becomes a very personal choice.

Seriously, moving to US just because you may or may not become better at reading images or make more money than Sweden does not make sense to me.