Should I become a radiologist?

[DrBytes]

Hi guys, I'm just a tot (beginning my undergraduate studies in a week), and I have been thinking about directing my academic energy (and hope 🙄 ) into becoming a radiologist. Being that I had no direct access to an actual radiologist until now (I'm referring to some of the readers of this), I relied on my mommy (who is a computer programmer) for feedback. She told me not to become one because constantly being exposed to magnetic radiation can have adverse effects on my health (stop laughing 🙁). I know this is not true, but how does a radiologist keep from being exposed to too much radiation? Does he/she simply interpret the images and not come close to the machine? Does it even make sense to ask that question?

Also, what expectations did you have before you became a radiologist, and how did they play out?

Another thing I'd like to know is how high malpractice insurance is for a radiologist. It seems to me that it should be lower than for any other physician, since a radiologist reads images, and it seems that it should much more difficult to make a mistake doing that than, say, cutting a spinal cord.

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[eddieberetta]

Radiologists interpret the images, but the actual imaging equipment is usually operated by technologists (with radiologist supervision when needed). The exception is in interventional procedures like angiography which are performed by the radiologist under x-ray guidance. There are many safeguards in place to minimize radiation exposure during procedures. Also, radiologists receive the most training (except for rad-onc?) in radiation safety.

Radiography/fluoro, CT and Nuclear Radiology involve potential radiation exposure. As I mentioned, for radiologists (i.e. rather than technologists) the exposure is greatest in fluoroscopy. US and MR are generally considered to be safe.

Malpractice is perhaps in the middle, higher than a lot of medical specialties, but lower than the high-stakes surgeries (ortho/OB/neuro). Malpractice is rising. You will find that radiology is not an exact science, and misses are made, like in other specialties. In contrast to some specialties, in rads, errors can be documented relatively easily and obviously certain errors can cause very bad outcomes for patients. Misses in radiology can be divided into perceptual (not-seeing an abnormality) and interpretive (incorrect identification of lesion).

 

[piotr13]

Very nice post, eddieberetta! Quite informative!