What are the top five medical specialties in HIGHEST DEMAND?

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Zayed63

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I am looking for some sort of reliable news source that will display the most in demand medical specialties.

Can anyone help me out?

Thanks🙂
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Zayed63 said:
I am looking for some sort of reliable news source that will display the most in demand medical specialties.

Can anyone help me out?

Thanks🙂
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Many people talk about the ROAD to happiness, radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology and dermatology. High pay, low stress means a lot of people gun for those specialties.
 
Those are some of the most competitive, but not the most in demand. There are so many people that want to go into those specialties it has driven demand down for them due to increased supply.
 
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Tiburon said:
Those are some of the most competitive, but not the most in demand. There are so many people that want to go into those specialties it has driven demand down for them due to increased supply.
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ah, i misread the question as most in demand by med students, which actually would still be wrong haha
 
darkjedi said:
Many people talk about the ROAD to happiness, radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology and dermatology. High pay, low stress means a lot of people gun for those specialties.
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I don't mind blood/guts, but operating on someone's eye would freak me the **** out.
 
Does anyone else think that to some degree, today's ROAD will be like Primary Care today in 20 years time? And Vice Versa? Perhaps not for all, but at least for some specialties?
 
This highly depends on location. There are many rural areas in demand of specialists, while those same job markets in urban areas are completely oversaturated.
 
punkedoutriffs said:
Does anyone else think that to some degree, today's ROAD will be like Primary Care today in 20 years time? And Vice Versa? Perhaps not for all, but at least for some specialties?
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The appeal of derm and rads have the potentially to drastically change in the next few decades. Who knows to what extent though. I'd be willing to bet that derm as a specialty will become less well paid, though probably still super comfortable.
 
darkjedi said:
The appeal of derm and rads have the potentially to drastically change in the next few decades. Who knows to what extent though. I'd be willing to bet that derm as a specialty will become less well paid, though probably still super comfortable.
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What is on the rise, you think?
 
TheMightySmiter said:
This highly depends on location. There are many rural areas in demand of specialists, while those same job markets in urban areas are completely oversaturated.
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Derm tends to be in pretty darn high demand regardless of area. This is partially due to the field's self-imposed limitations on training positions in residency.
 
punkedoutriffs said:
What is on the rise, you think?
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I'm expecting, or at the very least hoping, that the disparity of pay between physicians such as pediatricians or PCPs and specialists such as derm, will trend smaller in the future.

My guess is that salaries for pediatricians and PCP's especially have the potential grow, particularly because of the supposed physician shortage that is looming.
 
I thought this was gonna be about most in demand specialists according to job markets. I liked that idea more.

This thread has been done.
 
darkjedi said:
I'm expecting, or at the very least hoping, that the disparity of pay between physicians such as pediatricians or PCPs and specialists such as derm, will trend smaller in the future.

My guess is that salaries for pediatricians and PCP's especially have the potential grow, particularly because of the supposed physician shortage that is looming.
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Physician reimbursement is determined in large part by medicare/medicaid payscales which are set by policy aren't they? Isn't that why procedural specialties, whose services can be documented, do better financially, and pediatricians and PCP's, who don't do a lot of procedures, get paid less, despite working more hours and seeing more patients?

If that's the case, doesn't salary changes depend more on changing payment structures and policies rather than just disparities of supply and demand?
 
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punkedoutriffs said:
Physician reimbursement is determined in large part by medicare/medicaid payscales which are set by policy aren't they? Isn't that why procedural specialties, whose services can be documented, do better financially, and pediatricians and PCP's, who don't do a lot of procedures, get paid less, despite working more hours and seeing more patients?

If that's the case, doesn't salary changes depend more on changing payment structures and policies rather than just disparities of supply and demand?
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Yes, absolutely, but the health care bill attempts to address that to some extent, and if not this bill, there will be more bills in the future. The current model is unsustainable and eventually outside pressures will cause the market to shift.
 
darkjedi said:
Yes, absolutely, but the health care bill attempts to address that to some extent, and if not this bill, there will be more bills in the future. The current model is unsustainable and eventually outside pressures will cause the market to shift.
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Hopefully that's what will happen, although I feel like history has somewhat tended to favor the status quo.
 
OP: Go to your favorite physician job-search and browse around. You'll probably see the most demand (i.e., the most "help wanted" ads) in things like general internal medicine, family medicine, and general surgery.
 
specialties with cosmetic aspects like plastics or derm will be more resistant to macro changes in healthcare but probably more susceptible to economic pressures..
 
RogueUnicorn said:
specialties with cosmetic aspects like plastics or derm will be more resistant to macro changes in healthcare but probably more susceptible to economic pressures..
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Yea, but what does that really mean though? That a dermatologist will only have 2/3 of the usual quantity of appointments? Working 2 days/week instead of 3, and earning $250,000/yr instead of $375,000?
 
If the news is to believed, primary care and pediatrics, especially in rural areas, have the highest demand.
 
OCDOCDOCD said:
If the news is to believed, primary care and pediatrics, especially in rural areas, have the highest demand.
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I know I read an article recently talking about there being big shortages in pediatric specialists but I can't seem to find it online..
 
The five greatest medical specialties of all time:

1. Dylan
2. Dylan
3. Dylan
4. Dylan
5. And Dylan
 
Ob/gyn are especially in demand in new jersey
 
RogueUnicorn said:
specialties with cosmetic aspects like plastics or derm will be more resistant to macro changes in healthcare but probably more susceptible to economic pressures..
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At the same time, though, wealthier people tend to spend more money on specialties like derm and plastics, and the wealthy tend to be unaffected by recession.
 
darkjedi said:
Many people talk about the ROAD to happiness, radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology and dermatology. High pay, low stress means a lot of people gun for those specialties.
Click to expand...

Again with anesthesia. Anesthesia is NOT competitive. Not sure where this rumor began. Rads dropped tremendously in competitiveness last year. With their reimbursement cuts, they have to read a ton more studies to make the same salary. Ophtho and Derm remain competitive.
 
thesauce said:
Again with anesthesia. Anesthesia is NOT competitive. Not sure where this rumor began. Rads dropped tremendously in competitiveness last year. With their reimbursement cuts, they have to read a ton more studies to make the same salary. Ophtho and Derm remain competitive.
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That just seems so... reactionary. Should today's changes in reimbursement even be taken into account for such a lifelong decision as specialty choice, considering that current reimbursement cuts won't really matter to M-IV's for at least another 4 years, which is looking to be a volatile time anyway?
 
punkedoutriffs said:
That just seems so... reactionary. Should today's changes in reimbursement even be taken into account for such a lifelong decision as specialty choice, considering that current reimbursement cuts won't really matter to M-IV's for at least another 4 years, which is looking to be a volatile time anyway?
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Indeed. Hence why one should choose their specialty based on what they find intrinsically rewarding rather than going after the field with the best hours and pay. That way even if your field goes down the crapper you're still happy with it.
 
OCDOCDOCD said:
Indeed. Hence why one should choose their specialty based on what they find intrinsically rewarding rather than going after the field with the best hours and pay. That way even if your field goes down the crapper you're still happy with it.
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How's it that most MS-IV's act otherwise?
 
punkedoutriffs said:
How's it that most MS-IV's act otherwise?
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Seems to be a bit of an exaggeration to suggest "most MS-IVs act otherwise."

I will say this: some people choose their specialty in part because of the less demanding lifestyle, with much less regard to the money. Let's face it, bad physician money is still better than a lot of jobs. But if you're in the position to control how many hours you work in a week, that's a pretty nice position to be in.

MS-IVs are not in the business of reading tarot cards. Despite all the hemming and hawing from either political side, one can really only make an informed decision based on what the current state of medicine is and how it has changed in the recent as well as not-so-recent past. The truth of the matter is that if any specialty is going to be "hit hard" or be "on the decline", reimbursement will decrease well before comfort of schedule is entirely compromised. For instance, I went into derm (for many reasons). Right now, dermatologists are pretty well compensated on the scale of physician reimbursement (although nowhere near the top). They also enjoy a very good quality of life, largely stemming from the reasonable hours required to exist and function within a practice (which itself is due to things like few emergencies/needs for call, low acuity of many visits, etc). While I would not be happy to see my future paychecks become smaller and smaller, I know that for me personally I could still live on a salary more in line with what primary care physicians make, while still enjoying the better lifestyle.

All this is to say that - first of all - while some med students may indeed choose their fields based on perceived quality of life and/or salary, this probably does not represent the majority. And second of all, those who do make their decisions in this manner are probably not quite as foolish as some would believe. Sure, the future of medicine is uncertain, but that's the point. Why make a decision based on speculation rather than fact?

As a tangent to this, I would also like to add that the idea that you must absolutely be 100% madly in love with your given medical specialty is silly. I'd posit that many - if not most - people in other non-medicine fields at best "moderately enjoy" their careers, while many simply tolerate them on a daily basis. While this is unfortunate, and I would advocate that med students try to maximize their future happiness by choosing what they truly enjoy, I think it's exceptionally naive to think that medicine somehow absolves you of the fact that sometimes it's nice to put in a hard day's work at a job you don't seem to mind, get paid well for it, and get to go home and enjoy your life outside of work as well.
 
GuyWhoDoesStuff said:
Seems to be a bit of an exaggeration to suggest "most MS-IVs act otherwise."

I will say this: some people choose their specialty in part because of the less demanding lifestyle, with much less regard to the money. Let's face it, bad physician money is still better than a lot of jobs. But if you're in the position to control how many hours you work in a week, that's a pretty nice position to be in.

MS-IVs are not in the business of reading tarot cards. Despite all the hemming and hawing from either political side, one can really only make an informed decision based on what the current state of medicine is and how it has changed in the recent as well as not-so-recent past. The truth of the matter is that if any specialty is going to be "hit hard" or be "on the decline", reimbursement will decrease well before comfort of schedule is entirely compromised. For instance, I went into derm (for many reasons). Right now, dermatologists are pretty well compensated on the scale of physician reimbursement (although nowhere near the top). They also enjoy a very good quality of life, largely stemming from the reasonable hours required to exist and function within a practice (which itself is due to things like few emergencies/needs for call, low acuity of many visits, etc). While I would not be happy to see my future paychecks become smaller and smaller, I know that for me personally I could still live on a salary more in line with what primary care physicians make, while still enjoying the better lifestyle.

All this is to say that - first of all - while some med students may indeed choose their fields based on perceived quality of life and/or salary, this probably does not represent the majority. And second of all, those who do make their decisions in this manner are probably not quite as foolish as some would believe. Sure, the future of medicine is uncertain, but that's the point. Why make a decision based on speculation rather than fact?

As a tangent to this, I would also like to add that the idea that you must absolutely be 100% madly in love with your given medical specialty is silly. I'd posit that many - if not most - people in other non-medicine fields at best "moderately enjoy" their careers, while many simply tolerate them on a daily basis. While this is unfortunate, and I would advocate that med students try to maximize their future happiness by choosing what they truly enjoy, I think it's exceptionally naive to think that medicine somehow absolves you of the fact that sometimes it's nice to put in a hard day's work at a job you don't seem to mind, get paid well for it, and get to go home and enjoy your life outside of work as well.
Click to expand...

Very sensible. I did not put much thought into my last assumption. I do apologize for that.
 
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