ranking quality of life

[prominence]

i am considering anesthesiology, pm&r, and child psychiatry.

i would appreciate it someone could rank these specitalties based on quality of life, stress, hours, and salary.

thanks for your input.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DermRes]

ever considered dermatology?

 

[prominence]

i dont have the stats for dermatology.

 

[Delvonik]

Prominence,I am not really qualified to give you an experienced answer.I'm not in medical school,but I may be able to give you some small details about your question from what I have learned through the words of others.However,again,I am not a physician so I think you'd best get another opinion.http://icpac.indiana.edu


Anestheisiology-
*National Average is about $131,000 for the USA,but I've heard of many making alot more.
* I am not sure of hours,but I'm guessing 50 to 60 hours a week would be the average.Only an uneducated guess.
*Stress varies alot and again,I don't know for certain

Child Psych-
*Average is bout $115,000 for general ( child...? )
*I've heard that critical inpatient physicians can work 70 hrs. while some in lighter or outpatient clinics work about 40 ( not including on call)
*Again,stress is a toughie.How do you feel about kids telling you their problems all day ?

PM & R-
*Don't know.Some say about $155,000
*Hours can be about the same.PM&R is considered generally lighter,especially in residency and apparently stands for " Plenty of Money & Relaxation ".
*Again,stress in not totally predictable but with usually light hours,I'd say it's less than most


Well,sorry I couldn't provide you with much more than heresay and afew statistics from the link I mentioned.However,there experienced and helpful people in these forums ( have u tried the Lounge and Everyone forums ? ) and I wish you the best of luck in what ever you decide !

 

[EidolonSix]

Anaesthesiology has a fairly good quality of life depending on where you work (read ambulatory surgery center). Unfortunately you sacrifice a lot of what if means to be a doctor (diagnosis, treatment, doctor-patient relationship) and become more of a technician in a role that is also supported by competent nurse anaesthetists. Granted critical care, pain medicine, cardiac or neuro subspecialization is a bit different...but you sacrifice in the Q of L dept. there.

Child Psych- all the ones I met in med school were extremely happy people. It was scary in a way. But they did know their field and frankly got to see some weird stuff....which can make going to work on a daily basis interesting.

PM&R- On your own on that one. Some of the attendings I know work quite hard...esp. when avoiding the everpresent threat of dumps from ortho (good thing is you get the satisfaction of actually taking care of patients rather than surgerizing them, then mistreating their medical problems until you can find another disposition for them. Call me bitter....but as a medicine resident, you wouldn't believe how preposterously incompetent a lot of these guys are)

Frankly....if you want quality of life....you should redefine what you think quality of life is. Loving one's job is part of that and if you find that (like me who loves critical care medicine) that you like something despite a grueling schedule....then go for it and don't think of it as an insult to quality of life, but more as an adjunct. You could be very unhappy if you think of it otherwise.

 

[drusso]

PM&R (physiatry) is definitely a life-style specialty, but not one for everyone. As a physiatrist you're sort of a physician of last resort. The focus is not on curing people but on optimizing what is left of their lives. Residency can be demanding in the sense that one can some longish days---10-12 hours---but there is rarely overnight call and when was the last time you heard of a stat rehab consult?

The reimbursement for general inpatient rehabilitation (stroke, spinal cord injury, trauma, brain injury, orthopedic rehabilitation, amputation, transplant, etc) is usually a little bit better than primary care or general internal medicine ($140-$160K), but with fellowship training (especially in pain medicine, sports and spine physiatry, musculoskeletal medicine) the reimbursement can be significantly more. Add on top of this various administrative stipends for being medical director of a rehab facility or medical consultant to various social service agencies working with the disabled and one can anticipate a more than tidy little living.

Here are some links to get you started:

What is a physiatrist?

Examples of PM&R jobs

American Board of Physical Medicne and Rehabilitation

 

[HiFi]

WOW these are 3 specialties that couldn't be further from each other!

Just out of curiosity, why these 3 since each envolves such a different type of job.

I can't tell you about PM&R too much but I know that you don't do nights and weekends, mostly, and are office based and do inpatient consults.
I am more familiar with Peds PM& R since a number of my patients follow up there after discharge and to me it appears to be a very rewarding field, BUT it is not one of the instant gratification areas where you might see effects over a years time. I think the salaries are avg to above avg ( but I am guessing)

child psych: mostly office based practice. referrals from pediatricians and schools : behavioral problems, learning difficulties, the occasional teenager that takes a bottle of tylenol or lights the family cat on fire. Some night/weekend call probably.
Salary avg to below avg

Anesthesiology. Lots of career choices within the field....pain, cardio, peds, critical care.
Probably double the $ of the fiorst two fields.
depending on the practice, will be doing nights and weekends. Impersonal ( compared to the other 2 you mentioned) field, so if you like bonding with patients, not a good choice.
Lots of technical skills and science.

Like I said, 3 totally different fields : Working to get a kid to hold a spoon vs managing ADHD vs epidurals............

did you do rotations in each?

Now if you want a great career become a neonatologist

 

[BellKicker]

Originally posted by HiFi
WOW these are 3 specialties that couldn't be further from each other!


child psych: mostly office based practice. referrals from pediatricians and schools : behavioral problems, learning difficulties, the occasional teenager that takes a bottle of tylenol or lights the family cat on fire. Some night/weekend call probably.
Salary avg to below avg

That's probably the lighter end of the spectrum, which a psychologist might be better equipped for.

Child psychiatrists deal with pervasive developmental disorders like autism and Asperger's, AD(H)D, early onset schizophrenia, drug-induced psychosis, mood disorders.

I think compared to regular psychiatry it's a little more taxing because you have parents on your back. Most parents face a major crisis when they learn that their kid is schizoprhenic or something serious. OTOH you can really make a diference for some of those kids and their families.

I have to agree with HiFi, though. Those are 3 pretty far apart choices you have there! Why not go into family practice? You wouldn't do much anesthesiology (and why the heck would you?; just my personal view but you could do a lot of the same things as is done in PMR and child psych.