We're #3!!!

Started by Doc Samson
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Sadly, that's how most of my friends from the West coast think about psychiatrists. 🙁 Though to be fair, they pretty much distrust all doctors equally... One of my goals when I go back home is to avoid any type of discussion about vaccines. It's just not worth it.
 
A buddy of mine kept riding me because I was a doctor. I think he's insecure about me being a doctor because he's smarter than me, has a sensitive ego, prides himself on his intellect, but didn't have the discipline to stay on a difficult course for years. I'm smart, but this guy's intellect was much higher (E.g. someone with 1350 on the SATs vs someone with a 1500, not that those were are exact scores but you get the idea.)

Hey, that's his way, I don't think its any worse. We all make our choices in life. He certainly had a lot more fun for the 8 years while I was in medschool and residency.

So every time I hang out with him, I would have to endure some type of anti-medicine comment. Turned out he had a sister that also went into the same field. Nope, she only gets very supportive comments from him. That's how I was able to tell there was some hint of jealousy going on. I think it just rubbed him the wrong way that I ended up in a field where society sees that person as a braniac, and he didn't.

My attitude was--whatever. I still think he's smarter than me in terms of raw intelligence. I'll be the first to admit that medical education actually IMHO limits intelligence in some ways (in terms of general intelligence), though replaces it with specialized knowledge, but the continual neurotic jabs, well they just get to me after awhile.
 
OldPsychDoc said:
New comment: "Psychiatrist are the least necessary 'specialists' in the medical field. They are prescription writing machines for the big pharmaceutical companies, and nothing else."

Just in case your ego was feeling overinflated by this news...:eyebrow:
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Hmm. Maybe my life would be easier if I actually did that. Wait, what's the new drug coming out I just read about? Gotta get me some of that.

Actually a non-medical friend of mine saw the name "Fanapt" and decided it would be the perfect drug to give to fanboys and fangirls to make them less lame and more socially acceptable.
 
OBGYN #2.... and there's no mention of rads, derm, neurosx, ophtho...etc.

clearly, the article is flawed.
 
billypilgrim37 said:
We will never run out of pregnant woman or disorganized guys mumbling about Jesus and aliens at the bus stop.

In this economy, job stability gets weighted pretty heavily. 😉
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Hah, we won't run out of little old rich ladies looking for botox injects either. And those don't usually happen at 2AM, nor do they try to hit you in a rage. There are other fields I would rank higher. Not that I have a chance on earth of getting into one of them, but I would rank them higher.
 
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whopper said:
I saw that article earlier today. I guess I should consider myself lucky. I love the field, and I'm in it at a profitable moment in time.
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That's funny. I don't see it as particularly profitable in its current state and in the way I want to practice. Medicaid won't pay for more than 6 sessions of psychotherapy without a fight. If I choose to do psycotherapy I get paid less than if I med manage. I am going to train for 6-8 years and make about half as much as a cardiologist with the same amount of training. Psych budgets are still falling. And there's rumors that we will actually be a part of the 'specialist cut' in medicare. Since private insurance bases its rates as a percentage of medicare payout. I'll take a hit from there as well. Oh, and because, god forbid, I want to train and educate other doctors and work at the cutting edge, I'm going to make even less.

Don't get me wrong. I love psych. It's still the thing I want to do more than anything else in the world. And as long as I'm not literally being gang-raped by the government, no matter the pay, i'll be doing it. But...

*shrug*
 
masterofmonkeys said:
And there's rumors that we will actually be a part of the 'specialist cut' in medicare. Since private insurance bases its rates as a percentage of medicare payout. I'll take a hit from there as well.
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That would be a shame - definitely a step in the wrong direction toward mental healthcare equality.
 
masterofmonkeys said:
I am going to train for 6-8 years and make about half as much as a cardiologist with the same amount of training.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but cardiologists do a 3 year internal medicine residency and then a 3 year cardio fellowship. Non-fellowship trained psychiatrists are done in four years. Furthermore, those cardiologists who do interventional or electrophysiology train for even longer.

I have no gripes about certain specialists making more than us psychiatrists. They deserve it. Training to be a cardiologist, surgeon, oncologist, OB/GYN, etc...is more rigorous and time consuming. Their jobs don't get too laid back when they're attendings either.
 
RGMSU said:
OBGYN #2? Who made this list? Somebody on crack?
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I think if anyone thinks OB is profitable, they should read this

(Strunk AL, Esser L. Overview of the 2003 ACOG Survey of Professional Liability. ACOG Clinical Review. 2004;9:1; 13-6.)

Being sued once every 6 years on average...paying $150k for malpractice/year...sounds like a stressful/unprofitable business to me
 
Abacab said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but cardiologists do a 3 year internal medicine residency and then a 3 year cardio fellowship. Non-fellowship trained psychiatrists are done in four years. Furthermore, those cardiologists who do interventional or electrophysiology train for even longer.

I have no gripes about certain specialists making more than us psychiatrists. They deserve it. Training to be a cardiologist, surgeon, oncologist, OB/GYN, etc...is more rigorous and time consuming. Their jobs don't get too laid back when they're attendings either.
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3 internal medicine. 3 cards. 2 interventional.

Me 6 year combined program. Considering both C/L and Pain as well...but ask me in 5 years lol.

I don't have a beef at all with interventionalists, surgeons, etc making more money than us. But I'd also make less than an endocrinologist...whose lifestyle is just as laid back as a psychiatrists. I also have a beef with the fact that primary care docs make as much as us even while doing a horrendous job of psych treatment.
 
Not really sure what you're trying to do when you're done with residency m.o.m? Do you want to stick to academics?? You can easily make over 200k working a 9-5 job with minimal to no call in psych right after residency. And from what I know, psych makes much more than primary care physicians with less hassels and less stress...
 
kumar28 said:
You can easily make over 200k working a 9-5 job with minimal to no call in psych right after residency. And from what I know, psych makes much more than primary care physicians with less hassels and less stress...
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I haven't seen anything that contradicts that either. I've yet to be in a primary care office that isn't more stressful than a psych office. They may be out there, but I haven't seen them.
 
iloveDrStill said:
I think if anyone thinks OB is profitable, they should read this

(Strunk AL, Esser L. Overview of the 2003 ACOG Survey of Professional Liability. ACOG Clinical Review. 2004;9:1; 13-6.)

Being sued once every 6 years on average...paying $150k for malpractice/year...sounds like a stressful/unprofitable business to me
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The OBs I know aren't exactly going broke or anything, but I certainly wouldn't expect it to be #2 on this list. Nor would I expect psych to be #3. For that matter, I wouldn't put anesthesiology #1 anymore.
 
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kumar28 said:
Not really sure what you're trying to do when you're done with residency m.o.m? Do you want to stick to academics?? You can easily make over 200k working a 9-5 job with minimal to no call in psych right after residency. And from what I know, psych makes much more than primary care physicians with less hassels and less stress...
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i'm figuring in the academic as well as research 'pay cut' in there. Not too many 50% non-pharma research academics making over 200k
 
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