Reasons why radiology is popular:
1) Intellectually stimulating. You have to know every disease that can diagnosed using imaging in every field including their subspecialties. You have to know anatomy in 2D/3D. You get to be a doctor's doctor and help them in the work-up of their patient. That is one of the most gratifying feelings as a radiologist (in my opinion).
2) Your career can be very flexible if you are willing to give up certain things.
A. If you want to work 9-5, you can in academia or private practice, just don't expect to make anywhere near private practice PARTNER salary (I'm talking 1/2 to 1/3 that partners make. This option is very attractive to women (or Men who want to be Mr. Mom) applying to the field because they can be supermom. Do interesting work and still spend more time with family. No beeper. No nights. No weekends. You go home and enjoy your family. Checkmate.
B. You are not tied to a patient base or location. You may be tied to a partnership, but can easily make partner quickly elsewhere (1 year) especially as an experienced radiologists. You can work from home. You can be a night hawk and work nights from home. You can be a locum tenums and travel the country working in different locations for a month at a time and enjoy life. Work in San Diego one month, in NH another month, and Florida the next. Can't really do all of these things in anesthesia.
3. You get to work with cutting edge technology on a daily basis. AKA Computer/Gadget Afficienado Heaven. I have seen a demonstration of the current state of the art CT multi-slice presentation and a sneak peak at 16 multi-channel dectector CT with awesome image post-processing software. Radiology is visual nirvana. I was drooling and my mouth hung so far open I was afraid it would hit the floor. I sometimes pinch have myself when I look at the beautiful images and things that can be done with this technology (and MRI, Ultrasound, PET/Nuclear scanning and even plain films). You have seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of the application of imaging technology. Cardiac imaging is around the corner (both CT and MR). 3D imaging for non-radiologists is beautiful and surgeons are very happy with what we can show them. I can email a surgeon real-time windows media player 3D rotation images of the key structures that they will operate on the next day. I kid you not!
4. While I am not big on prestige, radiologists do have some prestige and referring clinicians do depend on us greatly. After spending time with the radiology resident on call, the decision to admit or treat patients rested heavily on what radiology resident said. Yes, we can have our power trips during residency, but most of us get over this quickly.
While many referring physicians do not think we are real doctors, the smart ones know we all have our role and we provide good service, which is integral to the practice of medicine today.
5. You have the pleasure of not dealing with the downsides of patient contact. Yes, there are downsides. And if you want the patient contact you can do interventional/Neuro-IR, breast imaging/procedures.
6. Not only can you use your brain, but you can work with your hands as an interventionalist or breast imager. The option is nice to have when you are tired of sitting in a chair all day long in a quiet dark room.
7. Unless reimbursement payments are cut to the bone, radiologists will continue to make a comfortable living and on par or greater than other high-paying subspecialists.
There are more reasons, but I will save them for another day.
