ROAD specialties not as appealing anymore?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
IlDestriero said:
Derm is lethally boring, maybe MOHS?
Every ENT I know works Hard. Pass.
Rad onc is brutal. All cancer patients? Hell NO!
Path? Dead already and the ship is sinking. Their time is over. Also boring.
PM&R? Seriously? Do you know what they do every day?
Click to expand...

You obviously do not understand what the mnemonic is for.
Members don't see this ad.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
All of these coined acronyms make me chortle. Keep it up fellow SDNers.
 
IlDestriero said:
Derm is lethally boring, maybe MOHS?
Every ENT I know works Hard. Pass.
Rad onc is brutal. All cancer patients? Hell NO!
Path? Dead already and the ship is sinking. Their time is over. Also boring.
PM&R? Seriously? Do you know what they do every day?
Click to expand...

yo dest,

can you expand on PM&R? I've heard it's mostly H&Ps, which I could see being irritating. Just curious about your take on it--I have a friend who is a former colleague going into it and he recommended it.

thanx
 
IlDestriero said:
Derm is lethally boring, maybe MOHS?
Every ENT I know works Hard. Pass.
Rad onc is brutal. All cancer patients? Hell NO!
Path? Dead already and the ship is sinking. Their time is over. Also boring.
PM&R? Seriously? Do you know what they do every day?
Click to expand...
Silent Cool said:
yo dest,

can you expand on PM&R? I've heard it's mostly H&Ps, which I could see being irritating. Just curious about your take on it--I have a friend who is a former colleague going into it and he recommended it.

thanx
Click to expand...

Depends on how much of the program is inpatient vs. outpatient based. That being said there is the opportunity to do a lot of procedures with a very good lifestyle.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
DermViser said:
Depends on how much of the program is inpatient vs. outpatient based. That being said there is the opportunity to do a lot of procedures with a very good lifestyle.
Click to expand...

I've heard PMR is super chill but not great paying (~low 200s) unless one does a pain fellowship. True?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
DermViser said:
Yes, that true: http://www.certificationmatters.org/abms-member-boards/physical-medicine-and-rehabilitation.aspx

That being said, $200 K is damn good pay for 9 to 5, outpatient, and not having to deal with Primary Care BS problems.
Click to expand...

I agree. I actually think all medical fields pay well, but it's all relative. I suppose if your other option is anesthesia where you could make >400, or something like that, than it doesn't seem so hot. But it is still very comfortable compared to what other careers offer.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Silent Cool said:
I agree. I actually think all medical fields pay well, but it's all relative. I suppose if your other option is anesthesia where you could make >400, or something like that, than it doesn't seem so hot. But it is still very comfortable compared to what other careers offer.
Click to expand...

Contrary to popular belief, I would hardly classify anesthesiology as a "lifestyle" specialty.
 
DermViser said:
Contrary to popular belief, I would hardly classify anesthesiology as a "lifestyle" specialty.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on how much you want to earn. The dudes earning 500K+ I'm sure are busting tail, but it seems pretty easy to earn 300K in anesthesia with no call at a lot of 7-3 gigs.
 
DermViser said:
Contrary to popular belief, I would hardly classify anesthesiology as a "lifestyle" specialty.
Click to expand...

I dont count anything that works 60 hrs weeks as lifestyle specialty, including anesthesia!
Though does anyone know why MGMA separates anesthesia pain docs from teh rest, and why anesthesia pain docs make 100k more than other pain doctors? (PMR, neuro, etc)
 
Silent Cool said:
I guess it depends on how much you want to earn. The dudes earning 500K+ I'm sure are busting tail, but it seems pretty easy to earn 300K in anesthesia with no call at a lot of 7-3 gigs.
Click to expand...

I don't know, I've been hearing a lot more graduating anesthesia residents are having to take AMC or hospital employed jobs at 250k-300k. I doubt those are 7-3, no call jobs. Who knows what the landscape will be by the time people who just matched finish residency.

Makes me sad how different our opportunties will likely be compared to generations past.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Silent Cool said:
I guess it depends on how much you want to earn. The dudes earning 500K+ I'm sure are busting tail, but it seems pretty easy to earn 300K in anesthesia with no call at a lot of 7-3 gigs.
Click to expand...
The lifestyle aspect of anesthesia is no clinic, no long term relationships with patients, no rounds, social work follow ups, etc. and when you're off, you're totally off. Your work is (usually) completely done, outside of some follow up on the ICU patients. I f/u on my critically Ill pts the next day, even if only electronically.
Work hard when you're working and play hard when you're not. Some find it boring, I like the variety and the instant gratification. Fetal surgery one day, a crani the next, easy ambulatory surgery center day, out of OR (MRI, IR, etc.), busy ortho and ENT day, sick as hell NICU case, a couple spines, repeat.
The nature of the job is amenable to sliding into retirement as well. Which is nice and prevents catastrophic burn out. And true to ROAD, the money is still good, but the 600k+ partner jobs are harder to find than 5 years ago.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
GuyWhoDoesStuff said:
Your specialty is predicated upon your patients staying asleep long enough for you to finish this week's NYT crossword and get caught up on Marmaduke's latest antics.
Click to expand...
Have you done derm rotations? I did. I wanted to love it. Wasn't happening. They are also extremely cerebral when they want to be, discussing dermatopathology to death, etc. They can give the fleas a run for their money.
 
IlDestriero said:
Have you done derm rotations? I did. I wanted to love it. Wasn't happening. They are also extremely cerebral when they want to be, discussing dermatopathology to death, etc. They can give the fleas a run for their money.
Click to expand...

He's in Derm, so I'm pretty sure he has. They discuss dermpath "to death", bc residents who are training need to learn dermpath and be able to read their own slides. Dermpath is not an exact science. It's not like Internal Medicine, where a patient has Hyperparathyroidism, and they masturbate over calcium for the next 1-2 hours, and not doing anything about it.
 
Frazier said:
As mentioned above, PRS isn't known for a fab lifestyle.

The true PRS residency is competitive largely because there are only ~80 spots available.

Hell, cut psychiatry residency spots down to 80 and the Step 1 average would most likely be well over 240 with pubs on the CV (given the old 2011 charting outcomes data). Boom...competitive.
Click to expand...

There were 130 integrated spots + about roughly the same in independent spots this year.
 
mcloaf said:
The good hours part is somewhat relative, but I agree with you. This is the specialty that interests me most right now. You also left out that it lends itself really nicely to interesting research, basic or clinical, at least for those of us interested in cancer. In conclusion, stfu and stop telling people about urology.

Nothing to see here. Just touching junk all day. Move along folks.
Click to expand...
Yes! This is exactly what I think every time someone mentions how great uro is...don't let the secret out just yet, please.
 
Silent Cool said:
I guess it depends on how much you want to earn. The dudes earning 500K+ I'm sure are busting tail, but it seems pretty easy to earn 300K in anesthesia with no call at a lot of 7-3 gigs.
Click to expand...

:lol::lol::lol: Those jobs are disappearing quite quickly.
 
IlDestriero said:
Rad onc is brutal. All cancer patients? Hell NO!
Click to expand...

In defense of my specialty (and it is my specialty since I matched!).

Having all cancer patients is one of the reasons I like it. EVERY SINGLE patient you see has a major problem and truly needs your help. We never see patients and think "Wow... neither of us needs to be here right now. What a waste of time"

The vast majority of what we treat is early stage cancer. That means that for most of our patients the goal of treatment is a CURE. Curing cancer is fun! I would say this is the number one reason I love the specialty.

But we also treat advanced stage cancer for palliation, such as bone pain from metastases or spinal cord compression. We might not extend their life but we make them feel a whole lot better. There were a few experiences from my rotation that really cemented my interest. I've seen a prostate cancer patient with extensive femoral mestastases, zonked in bed from pain meds for 21 days; ask if he could leave the hospital one day after a single radiation treatment. We had a patient who was hemiplegic due to infiltrative CNS disease from leukemia. After a few days of craniospinal irradiation he ran around the department and high-fived all the radiation therapists.

You definitely have to be able to handle dealing with cancer patients. But if you can do it... its a great place to be!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 8 users
DermViser said:
Even if they did, they wouldn't care. They see you as a greedy doctor who capitalizes on other people's suffering.
Click to expand...
No surprise here. Average people love to bash the wealthier/richer people and find a way to bring them down to their own level.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
So what are the odds of this whole massive cut being made to residency programs?
 
studentp0x said:
No surprise here. Average people love to bash the wealthier/richer people and find a way to bring them down to their own level.
Click to expand...

Esp. when spurred on by politicians (Obama) who say that doctors make $30,000 for amputating legs of a diabetic (wrong) or that ENTs are ripping tonsils from the mouths of children.
 
MedStud! said:
In defense of my specialty (and it is my specialty since I matched!).

Having all cancer patients is one of the reasons I like it. EVERY SINGLE patient you see has a major problem and truly needs your help. We never see patients and think "Wow... neither of us needs to be here right now. What a waste of time"

The vast majority of what we treat is early stage cancer. That means that for most of our patients the goal of treatment is a CURE. Curing cancer is fun! I would say this is the number one reason I love the specialty.

But we also treat advanced stage cancer for palliation, such as bone pain from metastases or spinal cord compression. We might not extend their life but we make them feel a whole lot better. There were a few experiences from my rotation that really cemented my interest. I've seen a prostate cancer patient with extensive femoral mestastases, zonked in bed from pain meds for 21 days; ask if he could leave the hospital one day after a single radiation treatment. We had a patient who was hemiplegic due to infiltrative CNS disease from leukemia. After a few days of craniospinal irradiation he ran around the department and high-fived all the radiation therapists.

You definitely have to be able to handle dealing with cancer patients. But if you can do it... its a great place to be!
Click to expand...
that's awesome; love hearing **** like this. congrats on the match, sincerely.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
vandyam said:
Yes! This is exactly what I think every time someone mentions how great uro is...don't let the secret out just yet, please.
Click to expand...
i think uro is a pretty polarizing specialty. there are those who view uros as glorified pecker checkers...and then there are those who actually looked into the specialty and see it for what it actually is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
solitarius said:
Trust me, I know. Lifestyle is THE #1 factor for me, with career longevity being a close second.

Surgery is just not worth it in this harsh environment. I also want to give PROPS to Atomi's PROP post, minus psychiatry. It's hard enough in this world dealing with the BS from sane people.
Click to expand...

If you've already figured that out. You're already ahead of the game more than you can imagine.
 
IlDestriero said:
That's the going rate for the mommy track in my neck of the woods. I've also seen ads for ASC jobs in the 280-325 range. So I'm not sure about any disappearing act just yet.
Click to expand...

Yea my boy just finished anesthesia last year and bought a house in a gated community in the burbs of Chicago. He works 4 or 5 days a week (including some graveyard shifts) for about 400k.
 
notbobtrustme said:
Yea my boy just finished anesthesia last year and bought a house in a gated community in the burbs of Chicago. He works 4 or 5 days a week (including some graveyard shifts) for about 400k.
Click to expand...
a quick glance in the anesthesiology forum and everyone there seems to think future salary, working conditions, and overall job market look bleak
 
user3 said:
a quick glance in the anesthesiology forum and everyone there seems to think future salary, working conditions, and overall job market look bleak
Click to expand...

Geographical location comes into play a bit too. There are still some pretty good anesthesia gigs in the midwest from what I've heard. Other locations might not be as favorable.
 
user3 said:
a quick glance in the anesthesiology forum and everyone there seems to think future salary, working conditions, and overall job market look bleak
Click to expand...

Specially the CRNA stuff is getting scary.
 
user3 said:
a quick glance in the anesthesiology forum and everyone there seems to think future salary, working conditions, and overall job market look bleak
Click to expand...

I'm scared for the patients. Who are the nurses going to go to with problems if they push out all the good doctors from the field? Other CRNAs? lol
I don't want to be a surgeon that's dependent on a nurse to keep my patient alive on the operating table.
 
Psai said:
I'm scared for the patients. Who are the nurses going to go to with problems if they push out all the good doctors from the field? Other CRNAs? lol
I don't want to be a surgeon that's dependent on a nurse to keep my patient alive on the operating table.
Click to expand...

loving all these histology avatars. monocytic leukemia?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
user3 said:
a quick glance in the anesthesiology forum and everyone there seems to think future salary, working conditions, and overall job market look bleak
Click to expand...

yea, my friend said that's been the attitude for the last 20 years.

by and large, doctors are pessimists about their future for some reason.
 
lol the government sets incentives and salaries based on bizarre performance targets that don't have to do with good patient care and then people go after doctors for responding to those incentives. I'm also shocked that doctors would want to get paid for services rendered by the uninsured when these people need it. It sucks that there are all these people in health administration, news agencies, government agencies, law offices, etc. that don't know a thing about medicine but want to control what we do, how we do it and how we're to be paid.

It's ironic that "bloomberg news" would attack anyone for obscene levels of pay.


Oh also, I just remembered my friend sending me a link about some dude who got a ridiculous hospital bill like 200,000. He was like "**** u guys" as in doctors which surprised me. He thought that the doctors that treated the patient were inflating the hospital bill to line their own pockets and I tried to tell him about how doctors are paid and billing offices in hospitals but he wasn't really listening. I got a bunch of bs about the pay in other countries and how here doctors just sit around chilling. To add insult to injury, he's applying to law school right now.
 
Last edited:
I just don't get why the media singles out physicians for vitriol, and why the public assumes doctors should be monks who work for as little as possible.

Food, water, housing, and sanitation are more basic needs than medical care, yet you don't see the media attacking plumbers or landlords or water companies when they refuse to service people who don't pay. But a physician refuses to see someone on Medicaid, and everyone loses their minds!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
What do you guys think of cardiology vs. surgery vs. EM in terms of lifestyle as an attending? Maybe FM as well?
 
HLxDrummer said:
What do you guys think of cardiology vs. surgery vs. EM in terms of lifestyle as an attending? Maybe FM as well?
Click to expand...


Easiest to hardest:

FM




EM


Cards





Surgery






Although I hated EM because of all the night shifts.
 
IJL said:
Easiest to hardest:

FM




EM


Cards





Surgery






Although I hated EM because of all the night shifts.
Click to expand...
I would reverse FM and EM with regards to lifestyle.

FM: call (on 24/7 if you are in solo practice), peer to peer/insurance work/more paperwork in general, longer hours per week (not including the outside of the office hours that students don't usually see).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

SnakeDiscovery
Best specialties for people with ASD?
Replies
21
Views
803
LeaveNoTrace
L
C
Advice on choosing between specialties?
Replies
2
Views
459
DuhCaveMan
D
M
IM-esque specialties for people who like the medicine in IM, but not necessarily the practice?
Replies
5
Views
1K
esob
esob
D
Which specialties "require" research years?
Replies
12
Views
3K
collegestud2013
C
P
Which specialties have the most global health opportunities?
Replies
19
Views
2K
mvenus929
mvenus929
Top