Specialty for slackers?

[Pons Asinorum]

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job market is abysmal

Yeah, the few times I've wandered upon their discussions in the Path specialty forum, there seemed to be a lot of issues with finding employment. Hard to see an improvement in the job options when the rates of elective autopsies keeps flatlining.

 

[DubVille]

I worked as a forensic path tech before med school. All the pathologists encouraged me to avoid path unless it was all that I could see myself doing. I did a rotation in path at a large residency program before residency apps went out. I wanted to experience it to satisfy my curiosity because I really loved path. It was a great program but almost all the young faculty praised my choice to apply to a different specialty. Guys that did 2 fellowships and residency at mayo etc said the market was absolutely terrible and they were really not in a position they wanted. Forensics are the only paths that do a lot of autopsies and its market is pretty good. The pay is pretty low though. It's too bad the leaders of the field could not regulate properly, its a cool specialty.

 

[yesno]

Hey what do you think of doing cardiology and then nitpicking your practice so it's like primary care but more $$? For example as noninvasive you can still do interesting and well paid things like EKG, stress tests, and then try to do something like vein treatments? And since you're noninvasive you might even make a reputation for not giving people needless stents, so they wouldn't think you're avoiding inpatient because you're a slacker? And this should pay significantly more than primary care, right? Also you know dermatologists may supplement their income by selling various acne creams. So why couldn't primary care doctors sell things like ephedra for weight loss or whatever is hot? Especially if you are a cardiologist, you should be well qualified to endorse some type of drug for people that are looking for drugs??

Also how hard is it to match cardiology? Do you only need to match a university program that has its own cardiology residency? Or you actually need to get a top20 im program? Because I am pretty sure that some university programs aren't very competitive even if they are in a nice geographic location.

 

[FSU2013]

Hey what do you think of doing cardiology and then nitpicking your practice so it's like primary care but more $$? For example as noninvasive you can still do interesting and well paid things like EKG, stress tests, and then try to do something like vein treatments? And since you're noninvasive you might even make a reputation for not giving people needless stents, so they wouldn't think you're avoiding inpatient because you're a slacker? And this should pay significantly more than primary care, right? Also you know dermatologists may supplement their income by selling various acne creams. So why couldn't primary care doctors sell things like ephedra for weight loss or whatever is hot? Especially if you are a cardiologist, you should be well qualified to endorse some type of drug for people that are looking for drugs??

Also how hard is it to match cardiology? Do you only need to match a university program that has its own cardiology residency? Or you actually need to get a top20 im program? Because I am pretty sure that some university programs aren't very competitive even if they are in a nice geographic location.

Good luck. I'm interested to see the responses you get.

 

[Textbookversion]

Hey what do you think of doing cardiology and then nitpicking your practice so it's like primary care but more $$? For example as noninvasive you can still do interesting and well paid things like EKG, stress tests, and then try to do something like vein treatments? And since you're noninvasive you might even make a reputation for not giving people needless stents, so they wouldn't think you're avoiding inpatient because you're a slacker? And this should pay significantly more than primary care, right? Also you know dermatologists may supplement their income by selling various acne creams. So why couldn't primary care doctors sell things like ephedra for weight loss or whatever is hot? Especially if you are a cardiologist, you should be well qualified to endorse some type of drug for people that are looking for drugs??

Also how hard is it to match cardiology? Do you only need to match a university program that has its own cardiology residency? Or you actually need to get a top20 im program? Because I am pretty sure that some university programs aren't very competitive even if they are in a nice geographic location.

YOU ARE SO SMART YOU ARE THE FIRST PERSON TO THINK OF THESE THINGS YOU'LL BE SUCH A REVOLUTIONARY.

They took a dump on stress test reimbursement, EKG's get ordered by everyone, primary care doctors do those things in med spas not as much money as you'd think and there is lots of competition, the drug endorsement thing is so dumb I'm not even going to touch it, not necessarily hard to match somewhere for cardiology, there are community programs with fellowships, you don't need a top 20 IM program there are people at the dumpiest of dumpy community programs that will go on to be stent ******, oh and no being noninvasive doesn't buy you credibility or money.... ANYWHO THATS MY EPIC RUN ON SENTENCE BILLY MAYS OUT

 

[jerseytrash]

Hey what do you think of doing cardiology and then nitpicking your practice so it's like primary care but more $$? For example as noninvasive you can still do interesting and well paid things like EKG, stress tests, and then try to do something like vein treatments? And since you're noninvasive you might even make a reputation for not giving people needless stents, so they wouldn't think you're avoiding inpatient because you're a slacker? And this should pay significantly more than primary care, right? Also you know dermatologists may supplement their income by selling various acne creams. So why couldn't primary care doctors sell things like ephedra for weight loss or whatever is hot? Especially if you are a cardiologist, you should be well qualified to endorse some type of drug for people that are looking for drugs??

Also how hard is it to match cardiology? Do you only need to match a university program that has its own cardiology residency? Or you actually need to get a top20 im program? Because I am pretty sure that some university programs aren't very competitive even if they are in a nice geographic location.

Cardiology is one of the most competitive medicine fellowships probably on par with/slightly less competitive than GI. It's not an easy fellowship to match.

 

[Trogghunter]

Ortho is so chill

 

[Slack3r]

Cardiology is one of the most competitive medicine fellowships probably on par with/slightly less competitive than GI. It's not an easy fellowship to match.

Which I always found strange cus you deal with noncompliant fatties all day that can't be troubled to put down the Big Mac that's slowly occluding their LAD.

 

[jerseytrash]

Which I always found strange cus you deal with noncompliant fatties all day that can't be troubled to put down the Big Mac that's slowly occluding their LAD.

It's also well reimbursing (relatively), and a LOT of people like it, money or not. I'm considering it highly as a fellowship option. You also get to play with cool toys and it's a very innovative field with everything from clinic to imaging to operative management.

I also actually like sick patients and in cards you actually have the option of doing something pretty concrete with their management

 

[cowme]

In terms of chill residency, path is supposed to be the best.
(coming from a rads resident who chose rads because it was chill and told me the only one better would be path).

I don't know how any rads resident could actually consider radiology "chill." Compared to surgery, it obviously is chill. But my medicine internship was far less demanding.

My votes would goto derm or path, then psych

 

[Didierdrogba]

I don't know how any rads resident could actually consider radiology "chill." Compared to surgery, it obviously is chill. But my medicine internship was far less demanding.

My votes would goto derm or path, then psych

meh, derm is too hard to match

 

[Textbookversion]

Cardiology is one of the most competitive medicine fellowships probably on par with/slightly less competitive than GI. It's not an easy fellowship to match.

It's pretty easy. Half the slots go to FMG's. It's just not easy to match somewhere prestigious.

Pay is continuing to stagnate or drop in a lot of markets so the competitiveness is going to decrease, and heme/onc is going to go up.

 

[survivordo]

I don't know how any rads resident could actually consider radiology "chill." Compared to surgery, it obviously is chill. But my medicine internship was far less demanding.

My votes would goto derm or path, then psych

Surgery obviously isn't chill during residency/typical life as attending. There are some breast surgeons out there that have managed to create a pretty nice lifestyle for themselves though.

Survivor DO

 

[jerseytrash]

It's pretty easy. Half the slots go to FMG's. It's just not easy to match somewhere prestigious.

Pay is continuing to stagnate or drop in a lot of markets so the competitiveness is going to decrease, and heme/onc is going to go up.

It's still not that easy - those FMGs often come from better programs than most and they're the very best of their classes. Heme/onc may or may not go up depending on how more medicare cuts affect it but in general I think EVERY specialty is going to take a hit.

Also cardiology still pays very well. The salaries have been cut significantly from what they were making 10 years back, as it was for radiology, but I think SDN has brainwashed people into thinking that anything less than 300-350k is somehow subpar, which is nonsense.

 

[jerseytrash]

I don't know how any rads resident could actually consider radiology "chill." Compared to surgery, it obviously is chill. But my medicine internship was far less demanding.

My votes would goto derm or path, then psych

Path has a VERY high risk of leaving graduates unemployed right now so I wouldn't say it's the hottest field to pursue.

 

[meister]

It must be really depressing to have graduated medical school and completed 4+ years of post-graduate training to become unemployed...

 

[ruprecht]

Sorry for starting so many threads lately, I'm in an SDN mood i guess

Let's say, I want a good specialty/ job for slackers while still doing clinical medicine. I am NOT huge on big name programs, research, competition, intelectual stimulation or high salaries, whatever. If I just want something with a good lifestyle, awesome hours, non-sweatshop pay (>$120,000), minimal commitment to the job, low liability, and time for travelling/ medical mission trips, am I looking at urgent care??

Thanks for a no-bullsh*t post. It's refreshing to see an honest, straightforward question. There "used to be" a few options, but nobody really has a sense which way healthcare in the US is going. I'd hang back and see how things shape up in the next few years.

 

[yesno]

Any thoughts on bariatric surgery? Is it 5yrs +1yr fellowship? How in-demand is it? How competitive? Is it common for bariatric surgeons to supplement this with liposuction?!

 

[DubVille]

If you are interested in a "slacker" specialty then a gen surg residency is probably the worst choice to make. I've never heard of or seen bariatric groups advertising lipo, but haven't really looked into it.

 

[yesno]

If you are interested in a "slacker" specialty then a gen surg residency is probably the worst choice to make. I've never heard of or seen bariatric groups advertising lipo, but haven't really looked into it.

I know that besides it being hard work , I might also have to spend 5yrs in a terrible location if I went for GS. that's 5yrs of life. But is it possible that after residency you can work anywhere? I would think that treating obesity is one of the most useful services in American medicine. And obviously other GS surgeries like appendix and GB are also life changing. But yeah, if it's too hard, it's not for me.

 

[KnuxNole]

I don't know how any rads resident could actually consider radiology "chill." Compared to surgery, it obviously is chill. But my medicine internship was far less demanding.

My votes would goto derm or path, then psych

You mean to tell us "radiholiday" is one big facade?? 😱

 

[cowme]

as a med school elective, that sentiment is true. When you are actually doing the work, its a little different.

 

[qxrt]

You mean to tell us "radiholiday" is one big facade?? 😱

I can't wait to start radiology so I can nap in a dark room all day and wake up occasionally to take a swig from a random bottle in the mini-bar next to my desk. Whatever will I do with all my money?

 

[SlickNickMD]

Ortho is so chill

Not sure if serious. Ortho residency can be brutal. Some orthopods do have great lifestyles, but I wouldn't go as far as to call the specialty "chill". You have to put in the time and work especially during training and in your earlier years of practice.



sorry in advance if I missed your sarcasm

 

[Textbookversion]

Yeah people suggesting surgery residencies as chill... whaaaat?????

No. No. No.

Something like psych, FM, path are all a good fit.