Retina in a mid-size city

[abcde]

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Anyone know what retina would be like in a mid sized town? say population <200,000.

 

[brendang]

Anyone know what retina would be like in a mid sized town? say population <200,000.

yeah, i'm interested in ultimately ending up in surgical retina as well... i heard from one retina doc that you would need 150,000 minimum to establish a practice...

 

[retinadoc]

I am a retina doc about a year out of fellowship, and I practice in a town of about 200K. There is one other retina person in my town. I see anywhere b/w 25-35 pts a day 3.5 days/week and I operate 1 day/week. I perform anywhere between 1-7 cases/week (average 2-3) and I share a week of call with the other ophthalmologists in town once every 10th week. I average about 5-7 lasers/week and 3-5 intravitreal injections/week. Call is not bad; I cover 2 ER's and the other practices in town when I am on call. The ER docs in this town are very good --- much better than in residency, as they take out most foreign bodies -- and very rarely do I have to go in at night when I am on call. I generally work from 8am until 4-5 pm. Most of my emergencies can wait a day or so (except a couple of the obvious). Rarely since I have been in practice have I had to do an evening case -- and never a night case. The biggest thing that I have had to adjust to is the enormous amount of paperwork in private practice -- letter writing, disability form completion, etc. The salary is very good -- the numbers on aao.org are pretty reflective and with a bonus the actual salary is b/w 1.5-2 x that in the 1st year (this has also been true with my friends that I completed fellowship with). Feel free to ask me any other questions that you may have.

 

[guttata]

I know this will vary depending upon the program, but can you compare your fellowship to residency training?

As above, you state that your call is a week once every 10 weeks. What happens with retina emergencies during the nine weeks you are off call? Are they referred to an academic center? Or do you end up coming in on those weeks as well? Thanks.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I'm from a town with about 40,000 people give or take, and we have a couple retina guys that stay busy enough. Though, the county itself is decent sized (somewhere around 100,000 total).

 

[abcde]

What does "busy enough" mean?

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

They're never sitting around twiddling their thumbs. But, at the same time, I don't think they do all that many complex procedures (scleral buckles and the like), most of their non-clinic time is spent doing laser work.

 

[gem777]

VA Hopeful Dr - would you mind sharing a little about your job search; i.e, when you began your search, did you send letters, if so, how many, reviewing contracts, etc. I'm in my second year of my ophtho residency and I would appreciate any advice you have to offer about looking for a job. Thanks.