Specialty with the least amount of time commitment?

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rms435

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What specialty do people think has the least work hour commitment? I've heard family practice, radiology and dermatology...
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rms435 said:
What specialty do people think has the least work hour commitment? I've heard family practice, radiology and dermatology...
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Definitely not family practice.

Derm is supposed to be lifestyle friendly, so is radiology, Opthalmology, anesthesiology, PM&R.

Heres an article on the trends toward life-style friendly specialties. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/16567.html
 
The specialties that on average work less than 45 hours a week are:
dermatology
ophthalmology
pathology
psychiatry
probably PMR

Other specialties like radiology and anesthesiology have controllable schedules but average physicians in those specialties work more than 50 hours a week though they are well compensated for it. Primary care specialties work more than 50 hours a week and aren't well compensated 🙁.
 
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Pinkertinkle said:
The specialties that on average work less than 45 hours a week are:
dermatology
ophthalmology
pathology
psychiatry
probably PMR

Other specialties like radiology and anesthesiology have controllable schedules but average physicians in those specialties work more than 50 hours a week though they are well compensated for it. Primary care specialties work more than 50 hours a week and aren't well compensated 🙁.
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That's a good list.

It's a bummer the state that family care is in right now. I find family practice to be extremely interesting (I am also applying DO - not that DO = family med), but they need to start doing more with FM (such as better compensation) because the residency spots just aren't getting filled ... and (in my opinion) it isn't hard to figure out why!
 
JaggerPlate said:
Eww.
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Seriously, if the OP wants a well-paid, chill lifestyle while working in a healthcare setting, it would be foolish to go to med school when better options are available.

If regular dentistry isn't chill enough, and the OP is a hard-worker and/or brilliant, there's orthodontics.

If the OP decides that laziness is overrated and money is king, there's OMFS. Which is still a good lifestyle, especially relative to most surgical specialties.
 
lord_jeebus said:
Seriously, if the OP wants a well-paid, chill lifestyle while working in a healthcare setting, it would be foolish to go to med school when better options are available.

If regular dentistry isn't chill enough, and the OP is a hard-worker and/or brilliant, there's orthodontics.

If the OP decides that laziness is overrated and money is king, there's OMFS. Which is still a good lifestyle, especially relative to most surgical specialties.
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OMFS is hard to come by, though. I hear those spots are very competitive. You're basically getting a dual DDS/MD degree.

But yes, nice salary and lifestyle. Certainly worth pursuing if it's something you like.
 
i just want to say how refreshing it is to see 9 responses to this question and not one "omg, if you are a premed and already thinking about finding the most chill specialty medicine is not for you, go into investment banking or something"
 
yeah, because investment bankins is sooooooooooo laid back... 🙄
 
dermatology

but i know an oral surgeon who works 4 days a week and brings in a TON of money- he is always at home, plays tennnis all the time, and lives an amazing life! So check out oral surgery- you can pursue it usually from a dentistry school but apparently an MD is an option.
 
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The ROADs Specialties are what you need to go for if you are looking for smaller time commitment but still want a good paycheck.

Radiology, Opthamology, Anesthesiology and Dermatology
 
Im going with Radiology, and alot of the work they can do from home.
 
QUESTION: By the time we're practicing medicine (give or take 10 years from now, more or less), what is the probability that the "ROAD" specialties are still considered good "life" specialties? Have the ROAD specialties always been this laid back?
 
Related thread I made figuring for lifestyle AND money:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=445396

For pure lifestyle the best specialties are:
Occupational Medicine
Dermatology
Pain management (Interventional Pain)
Ophthalmology
Radiation Oncology
Pathology
PM&R
Psychiatry
Endocrinology
Rheumatology
Allergy/Immunology
Dentistry (I had to)

Docs in these specialties regularly work less than 45 hours per week, usually have nights and weekends off and have little to no call. You can tailor your practice to be more lifestyle friendly in many other specialties (Family, Plastics, Anesthesia, Radiology, Emergency Med, Neurology, Gastroenterology, Peds, IM, etcetera) but it may be more difficult to do so and you might take a pay cut.
 
Virgil said:
QUESTION: By the time we're practicing medicine (give or take 10 years from now, more or less), what is the probability that the "ROAD" specialties are still considered good "life" specialties? Have the ROAD specialties always been this laid back?
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Yes and radiology and derm will probably only get better. Imagine this if you were a radiologist:

You are out on the golf course and your pager goes off. You go sit back in the cart and boot up your laptop and look at the most recent study: an abdominal CT. You use a pull-down menu and a bit of typing to create your report. You call the ER doc and tell him that it is highly suspicious for appendicitis but otherwise normal. You go back to your 7-iron 5 minutes after the initial page and hit a beautiful 40 yard slice into the water.
 
TRAMD said:
Yes and radiology and derm will probably only get better. Imagine this if you were a radiologist:

You are out on the golf course and your pager goes off. You go sit back in the cart and boot up your laptop and look at the most recent study: an abdominal CT. You use a pull-down menu and a bit of typing to create your report. You call the ER doc and tell him that it is highly suspicious for appendicitis but otherwise normal. You go back to your 7-iron 5 minutes after the initial page and hit a beautiful 40 yard slice into the water.
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You then take a sip of your piña colada and say: "Damn, I love rads."
 
Virgil said:
You then take a sip of your piña colada and say: "Damn, I love rads."
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I don't know guys. I'm somewhat enamored by surgery...something about rads or anaesthesia seems really boring to me. What surgical specialties have relatively good lifestyles? ENT? I know ophtho is considered "surgical," but how are the surgeries?
 
I've always heard Emergency Medicine is busy while you are at work, but has a pretty set schedule. Its hectic at the hospital, but when you're done, your done, i.e. you never have to be on call. Good job for managing a life outside of work.
 
TRAMD said:
Yes and radiology and derm will probably only get better. Imagine this if you were a radiologist:

You are out on the golf course and your pager goes off. You go sit back in the cart and boot up your laptop and look at the most recent study: an abdominal CT. You use a pull-down menu and a bit of typing to create your report. You call the ER doc and tell him that it is highly suspicious for appendicitis but otherwise normal. You go back to your 7-iron 5 minutes after the initial page and hit a beautiful 40 yard slice into the water.
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The list in your other post ranks spine surgery higher than plastics for compensation. I was under the impression that the really successful plastic guys do a lot of cosmetic procedures = cash because insurances won't pay for those. What makes the compensation for spine surgery so high (ranked #1 on your list) compared to plastics for example? It seems that spine surgery is the real deal: controllable hours, top compensation, and most of all it is a heavily surgical specialty. Please educate me. 🙂
 
lord_jeebus said:
If regular dentistry isn't chill enough, and the OP is a hard-worker and/or brilliant, there's orthodontics.
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I know a orthodontist who makes 450k a year working 4 days a week and owns a beach front house in huntington beach.

My father who is a reconstructive plastic surgeon/hand surgeon makes the same working 6 days a week with one night of call a week and his house is walking distance from the beach but not actually on it. He also did 8 years of residency working >120 hours a week. When I was growing up I used to think he didn't love me cuz I never saw him. He was trying to put extra food on our table trying to support a family of 6 on a residents salary with moonlighting.
 
Virgil said:
I don't know guys. I'm somewhat enamored by surgery...something about rads or anaesthesia seems really boring to me. What surgical specialties have relatively good lifestyles? ENT? I know ophtho is considered "surgical," but how are the surgeries?
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Of course Ophtho--the surgeries are small and precise and as my friend who went into Ophtho said "I get to sit down for all my surgeries". ENT is more lifestyle friendly on average than many surgery sub-specs but there is usually call and it can be hectic. Plastics and urology could be tailored to be more lifestyle friendly but plastics is competitive for this kind of practice (all boobs and lipo) and urology is usually in a situation of having to take call which can be frequent due to the shortage or urologists nationwide.

Ortho subspecialties can be ok if you can find a spot where you don't have to take general ortho call. This is particularly true for spine surgery, hand surgery and joint replacement. You will probably work more than 45 hours per week but not much in the way of nights and weekends and they make A LOT of money. Many in these fields get into 7 figures.

Some neurosurgeons do a spine-only practice which is pretty much the same as an ortho-spine practice.

If you wanted surgery and lifestyle and you were my friend . . . I would recommend Ophtho or Ortho hand or spine.
 
Virgil said:
The list in your other post ranks spine surgery higher than plastics for compensation. I was under the impression that the really successful plastic guys do a lot of cosmetic procedures = cash because insurances won't pay for those. What makes the compensation for spine surgery so high (ranked #1 on your list) compared to plastics for example? It seems that spine surgery is the real deal: controllable hours, top compensation, and most of all it is a heavily surgical specialty. Please educate me. 🙂
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Spine surgery is the hands-down winner in terms of compensation. Every source I could find that included it had it listed as the highest. Typical surgeries take about 2 hours and pay thousands. You do have to realize, however, that many spine surgeons are either neurosurgeons taking neurosurgery call (hellacious) or orthopods taking general ortho call (also hellacious). There are those that ONLY do spine surgery and take no call and yes, I do believe that would be the ideal specialty, especially if you want to do surgery. The residencies are competitive and it would be many tough years of residency and finding that type of practice may be somewhat tough however.

Plastics has a very glamorous image but it may not be all it is cracked up to be. I know a plastic surgeon who does very well for himself but says that his sister works as a Radiation Oncologist and works 2/3 what he does and makes twice as much. He also takes call and she doesn't.
 
I would encourage the OP to consider where things will be 10-20 years from now. For example - with scanners becoming a necessity for a multitude of reasons (fixed cost, prevent lawsuits, more common to guide non-invasive procedures, etc.), how long will radiology be a chill spot to be in? Personally, I think that the ability to transmit images securely & quickly is going to keep radiology as a very nice specialty. On call? Wake up, check your email, return a phone call, go back to bed.

I can't imagine dermatology ever becoming hectic.

I also think that you should consider individual approaches to medicine. If you're private practice, you can choose to work a lot less - look at docs in Urgent Care Centers.

It wasn't mentioned, but I know an ER doc that really enjoys the lifestyle. The schedule is predictable (12 on/12 off I believe he said) and he doesn't have any patients to care for when he walks out of the building.

The other one I can think of is urology. For a surgical specialty, the lifestyle is generally considered pretty nice. Note that I said "for a surgical specialty" - they're still up @ 4 and 5am every day but they get to leave by 5 or 6pm.
 
Maxprime said:
I would encourage the OP to consider where things will be 10-20 years from now. For example - with scanners becoming a necessity for a multitude of reasons (fixed cost, prevent lawsuits, more common to guide non-invasive procedures, etc.), how long will radiology be a chill spot to be in? Personally, I think that the ability to transmit images securely & quickly is going to keep radiology as a very nice specialty. On call? Wake up, check your email, return a phone call, go back to bed.

I can't imagine dermatology ever becoming hectic.

I also think that you should consider individual approaches to medicine. If you're private practice, you can choose to work a lot less - look at docs in Urgent Care Centers.

It wasn't mentioned, but I know an ER doc that really enjoys the lifestyle. The schedule is predictable (12 on/12 off I believe he said) and he doesn't have any patients to care for when he walks out of the building.

The other one I can think of is urology. For a surgical specialty, the lifestyle is generally considered pretty nice. Note that I said "for a surgical specialty" - they're still up @ 4 and 5am every day but they get to leave by 5 or 6pm.
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For pure time commitment ER docs probably work the least of ANY doctor. If you don't mind working nights and weekends and doing shifts and you just purely care about time off there might not be a better choice than EM. I happen to know a guy who works 2 60-hour shifts a month in a VA ER. He is not busy the entire time and often is able to sleep and hang out. He makes $180,000 per year salaried and has all the great benefits of working for the government. He more or less works for 3 days, then has 12 days off, works for 3 days, 12 days off. I also know ER docs who work 3 12 hours shifts per week and make $300k per year.
 
One of the psychiatrists I work with manages to come in around 8 or 9 am and leave around 1 or 2 pm.

She runs off to go do her private patients, but if she didn't have those, that would be a pretty sweet deal.
 
Everyone makes good points about dentistry, or oral surgery, or ortho err whatever but the bottom line is .... if you want medicine, you want medicine. People make great money in all types of different things, but the OP is obviously interested in practicing medicine, so that is where his question lies. I personally have absolutely no interest in dentistry (though I understand it can be easy, make good money blah blah blah), but for me I just don't want to do it AT ALL ... so it doesn't matter how easy their life is/what they make!
 
medking said:
Enlighten me please =)
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As a Family Practice doc, you can "subspecialize" (for lack of a better word, although I'm sure there exists an appropriate term) in Sports Medicine. This requires taking an additional test (which must be repeated every 7 or 10 years depending on CME).

One could also go into sports med from Ortho, in which case you'd probably do fewer physical examinations for sports injuries and more surgical interventions on athletes.

In this case, the ortho doc would surely make more than the family doc. Now if the family doc became commissioned to privately treat/diagnose athletes for a particular pro team, to the point where that was his ONLY job (and no family practice clinic work), the team may pay very handsomely. But he would be abandoning actual "Family Practice." I don't know how often that even happens.



Anyone else can feel free to correct/add to this.
 
Didn't see it, so I thought I would throw it out there.

The ROAD to success:

R adiology
O phthamology
A nesthesiology
D ermatology


Whatever you do, don't go into EM if you are looking for short hours and lots of compensation :b
 
gsquared said:
Didn't see it, so I thought I would throw it out there.

The ROAD to success:

R adiology
O phthamology
A nesthesiology
D ermatology


Whatever you do, don't go into EM if you are looking for short hours and lots of compensation :b
Click to expand...

R adiatioin
O ncology
 
gsquared said:
Didn't see it, so I thought I would throw it out there.

The ROAD to success:

R adiology
O phthamology
A nesthesiology
D ermatology


Whatever you do, don't go into EM if you are looking for short hours and lots of compensation :b
Click to expand...
Radiology and Anesthesiology work quite a few more hours than the O and the D.
 
Long Dong said:
R adiatioin
O ncology
Click to expand...

I agree.

I don't think radiology is that great of a lifestyle. The unbelievable number of scans that are done each day at my hospital and have to be read promptly means there is always a radiologist in the hospital working continuously. The scans go all night long and don't stop.

We even schedule MRIs until 11:00 or 12:00 at night for routine.

I think it would be hard to golf when you are getting paged every 30 seconds or so to read a film.
 
THP said:
I don't think radiology is that great of a lifestyle.
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True. It's variable, but the past ten years have certainly made it less of a lifestyle specialty than it was before. Back in the day it was the ultimate choice for country clubbers. The onslaught of new modalities which have made it so profitable has had the side effect of increasing work demands per radiologist. You can still land plum gigs, but don't be shocked if you spend a lot of your nights and weekends on the job (especially during residency).
 
Maxprime said:
I would encourage the OP to consider where things will be 10-20 years from now. For example - with scanners becoming a necessity for a multitude of reasons (fixed cost, prevent lawsuits, more common to guide non-invasive procedures, etc.), how long will radiology be a chill spot to be in? Personally, I think that the ability to transmit images securely & quickly is going to keep radiology as a very nice specialty. On call? Wake up, check your email, return a phone call, go back to bed.

I can't imagine dermatology ever becoming hectic.

I also think that you should consider individual approaches to medicine. If you're private practice, you can choose to work a lot less - look at docs in Urgent Care Centers.

It wasn't mentioned, but I know an ER doc that really enjoys the lifestyle. The schedule is predictable (12 on/12 off I believe he said) and he doesn't have any patients to care for when he walks out of the building.

The other one I can think of is urology. For a surgical specialty, the lifestyle is generally considered pretty nice. Note that I said "for a surgical specialty" - they're still up @ 4 and 5am every day but they get to leave by 5 or 6pm.
Click to expand...

It's pretty easy to put $100,000 worth of equipment into a person's spine, and we're not even talking about paying for the actual operation yet.
 
THP said:
I agree.

I don't think radiology is that great of a lifestyle. The unbelievable number of scans that are done each day at my hospital and have to be read promptly means there is always a radiologist in the hospital working continuously. The scans go all night long and don't stop.

We even schedule MRIs until 11:00 or 12:00 at night for routine.

I think it would be hard to golf when you are getting paged every 30 seconds or so to read a film.
Click to expand...
I did a lot of shadowing at a cutting edge hospital in MN and during the night they would outsource a lot of the rad scans to Australia where the day was just getting started.
 
the ER doctor that I know regrets going into emergency medicine. she said she would go days without seeing her daughter because of the combination of days, nights, and weekends. she wishes she would have picked another specialty.
 
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