What exactly is it about ENT, radiology, and dermatology that make them extremely competitive?

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

I understand surgery being competitive, but not these.

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[ciestar]

Well, with derm...lifestyle and money.

 

[ERDOC555]

ENT: Incredible compensation, can do some cosmetics, very interesting and fun field, of the surgical specialties it certainly has one of the better lifestyles, relatively short training (no fellowship needed) with excellent job market

Derm: Above average compensation, excellent lifestyle, very rewarding and diverse field, ability to do cosmetics, good job market outside of the competitive big cities, short training

Radiology: (Not competitive anymore, anyone can match) Still incredible compensation, intense hours when you're working but massive amount of vacation time each year, ability to work from pretty much anywhere, minimal to no call, minimal pt exposure and getting to work with other doctors

 

[Lucca]

Divide $$$ by hours worked and youre half way to a general theory of specialty competitiveness

 

[NotASerialKiller]

Radiology: (Not competitive anymore, anyone can match) Still incredible compensation, intense hours when you're working but massive amount of vacation time each year, ability to work from pretty much anywhere, minimal to no call, minimal pt exposure and getting to work with other doctors

Thank you for pointing out that that can be a positive. Sometimes you just want to get the **** away from patients.

 

[getdown]

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[Med Ed]

Radiology similarly used to be the golden specialty... good hours, high salary. Using the stock market analogy again, people are worried about Artificial Intelligence, outsourcing of imaging to China/India where scans can be read for 1% of the current price.

Some people talk about AI taking over, but consider that they haven't made a decent EMR, or something that can read EKGs or Pap smears without human intervention. And those are the easy ones.

The outsourcing of radiology imaging has likewise been talked about ever since teleradiology became technologically feasible, but the central problem is that nobody will extend liability coverage to some unknown entity in another country. Oh, and there are some minor problems with paying non-citizens, who are not licensed to practice medicine in the US, for medical services. The teleradiology outfits in existence (like Nighthawk and Argus) utilize US docs living abroad, and they don't charge 1% of the current price.

The central reason for the cyclical radiology market can be summed up in one word: reimbursement.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I understand surgery being competitive, but not these.

ENT: cool field and some pretty sick surgeries, good lifestyle, and great pay with a very high ceiling depending on what your practice focuses on.

Derm: get paid like a surgeon to work like FM. It is the epitome of “lifestyle specialty.” On top of this many of the actual derms I know genuinely love the field as it is highly academic and you can see some pretty cool stuff. You can diagnose (or at least suspect) many systemic disorders simply from the cutaneous presentation.

Rads: job flexibility, good pay with a high floor, minimal patient interaction if that’s your thing. Many can do a good amount of their work from home. Can lead to IR (slowly changing with the advent of integrated IR residencies) which is a procedure based field with some cool procedures and applications.


When it comes down to it the competitive specialties pretty much are competitive because of the pay/hours worked ratio.

You say surgery is competitive but general surgery doesn’t even touch the subs (ENT is a sub) or derm in competitiveness. Lifestyle factors are influencing specialty competitiveness more and more every year.

 

[DPTinthemaking15]

My friends dad is a radiologist and they live in a million dollar home (he got in when the gettin’ was good). Whenever I go to their house he is usually in his office working, but he has to go to the hospital every now and then. Not sure about the other fields, but radiologist seem to have it made. Plus, he gets to play more golf than I can dream of lol.

 

[chemdoctor]

Well, with derm...lifestyle and money.

That’s pretty much it for all of these. Lifestyle and money make everything...

 

[Redpancreas]

Radiology is not that competitive. If you’re just talking about getting a spot, EM and Gen Surg are harder. Like many fields though, competition will go up for programs in good locations with name recognition.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Radiology is not competitive.

Yeah it doesn’t belong in the same breath as ENT or Derm