When do radiologists decide to become radiologists?

[Ezekiel20]

Dear all

I just wanted to ask this question to the people who are either residents in radiology programs or are considering radiology as their specialty;

When did you decide that radiology was the right career choice for you?

It's just that I can't imagine too many pre-med students or med students who have made their minds up to be radiologists. But since radiology seems to be a popular and difficult residency to get into, many must make the decision sometime.

Thanks in advance

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[Tool_fan]

After they have gone through the following clerkships: OBGYN, Medicine, Primary Care, Psych, etc...the list goes on

Each clerkship makes you think about its crappy hours, less pay, and routine/less interesting pathology/science. But as always, its really a personal decision. The reasons above are mine and mine alone.

Dear all

I just wanted to ask this question to the people who are either residents in radiology programs or are considering radiology as their specialty;

When did you decide that radiology was the right career choice for you?

It's just that I can't imagine too many pre-med students or med students who have made their minds up to be radiologists. But since radiology seems to be a popular and difficult residency to get into, many must make the decision sometime.

Thanks in advance

personal personal personal

 

[MD Dreams]

Dear all

I just wanted to ask this question to the people who are either residents in radiology programs or are considering radiology as their specialty;

When did you decide that radiology was the right career choice for you?

It's just that I can't imagine too many pre-med students or med students who have made their minds up to be radiologists. But since radiology seems to be a popular and difficult residency to get into, many must make the decision sometime.

Thanks in advance

I think most decide after they realize the great pay, good hours, and the freedom from all the hassles and headaches of modern patient care. I think unless you absolutely hate radiology (sitting in a dark room) many people can learn to enjoy it, and some come to love it.

 

[shorrin]

Dear all

I just wanted to ask this question to the people who are either residents in radiology programs or are considering radiology as their specialty;

When did you decide that radiology was the right career choice for you?

It's just that I can't imagine too many pre-med students or med students who have made their minds up to be radiologists. But since radiology seems to be a popular and difficult residency to get into, many must make the decision sometime.

Thanks in advance

Hi Ezekiel,
I may be in a unique situation but I had tentatively decided on rads before M1. You see after graduation I spent two years as an RA in an fMRI lab. But that doesn't explain everything so I have to take a step even farther back.
The first time I went to college I went to art school and then worked in advertising. After I decided I wanted to study biology I went back to college and decided at during 4th year to pursue medicine. I did research and applied for med school.

During med school, I thought I either wanted rads or neuro, BUT being somewhat thoughtful I realized that those were my two main influences prior to M1 and thought that I should seek out every specialty evenly and completely and then if I decided rads or neuro then I would have made a more informed decision.

So during M1 I LOVED anatomy. During M2 I LOVED pathology and pharma. I was hating any psych based course, but I was loving disease and disease process.

During M3 I did OB-GYN, psych, surgery, medicine, peds and family med. During medicine I was truly wondering why I went into medicine if I disliked the field soooo much. But it wasn't medicine academically, it was medicine pratically that I couldn't deal with. I dislike ordering and reviewing multitudes of tests and social issues that take days and days and days to resolve with lax sw's and difficulty with finding placement. Not to mention patient safety issues and the potential 48k-100k estimated lives lost per year by medical mistake. I have serious doubts in the numbers and statistical methodology from the 'to err is human study' but I'd rather not contribute so directly to those numbers. I'm not saying that radiologists mistakes don't count but I'd rather NOT be on the front-lines so to speak.
Pysch made me depressed. I LOVED peds and but the same issues as in medicine applied plus admissions that I thought so bogus and sometimes terribly abusive parents that yelled and screamed at us. One mom whose child I went to visit asked me to stay with her child, not to touch her (she needed monitoring) and did not return for half an hour!!! What was I? a baby sitting service?

At the start of M4 I scheduled neuro first and found the practice of that rather depressing as well - I was skewed by being on the stroke service I suppose. But I didn't love it enough anyway and I have heard that most of the programs in my area are malignant for neuro and I had to stay local.
Next I did rads - very disapointing. I enjoyed it however, when I got a great teacher but I only encountered two of those on that 4week rotation. I started to look at path but did not like the surgical path rotation and esp the fetal dissections and autopsies were not like gross anatomy. In anatomy bodies are relatively dry compared to freshly dead people who are very, very wet.

So I bucked up and made a decision based on about a million different factors. I loved radiology when I had a great teacher and thought the films (digital) were incredibly beautiful and complex. That combined with pathology and the dearth of scavaging up a million test results and being on the phone for hours dealing with social issues - I think solidified it and good thing too.

A good thing because when I did an away rotation I went to a place where the attendings took personal time out of thier day (when the pile was done and residents were reading) to sit with me and go over teaching cases. I loved every moment - they were great teachers and I enjoyed reading about rad. path and diagnosis at home even after a 9 hour day. I knew, at that point, I had made the right choice.

I guess in summary, I love anatomy, disease process, the visual aspect and the lack of things in medicine that made me a stressed out crazy person everynight I came home. My fiance said that in no other rotation was I so relaxed when I came home at night - I guess that speaks volumes. I know rads is hard work, I've seen it, but if a job doesn't 'feel' like hard work to you then I think you've got it right.

When I worked in advertising and I sat and drew out concepts all day I'd think ' wow, I'm getting paid just to draw' and now I might think 'wow, I'm getting paid to look at anatomy and make a diagnosis'. Doesn't 'feel' like work when you like what you do!

nice photography by the way.

 

[emtji]

during the first week of my surgery rotation.

Dear all

I just wanted to ask this question to the people who are either residents in radiology programs or are considering radiology as their specialty;

When did you decide that radiology was the right career choice for you?

It's just that I can't imagine too many pre-med students or med students who have made their minds up to be radiologists. But since radiology seems to be a popular and difficult residency to get into, many must make the decision sometime.

Thanks in advance

 

[Ezekiel20]

Thanks all for the replies, esp Shorrin for your story - I enjoyed reading it

 

[DHMO]

The summer after first year i did wound up doing some research in the field (even though I was not consideriong rads for a career at that point). By the end of the summer I knew it was the right field for me. Every day of 3rd year reinforced this further.

 

[Dr.RosenRosen]

The summer after first year i did wound up doing some research in the field (even though I was not consideriong rads for a career at that point). By the end of the summer I knew it was the right field for me. Every day of 3rd year reinforced this further.

Same here, realizing that I hated third year and would rather be a janitor than work as a doctor in any other field. I kept looking for excuses to either quit or find a better career after graduating. But when I found rads during fourth year I was amazed. And, for me, its all about radiology itself. Hours and pay have nothing to do with it. I'd take medicine work hours and a pediatricians pay and still love it....no joke.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

I came into med school with an open mind, considering neurology or cardiology as the uninformed frontrunners. Between 1st and 2nd year, I did research on fMRI, more for the neurology aspect. I found that I really liked the technologic aspects of MRI. Radiology made its first entry into my future plans.

I started 3rd year with peds. I found that my favorite part of the day was going down to discuss studies with the peds radiologist at our childrens hospital. I distinctly remember an intussusception reduction on one of my patients. Radiology was moving up the list. I found I really enjoyed going down to radiology during my medicine and surgery months. However, unlike some of the above posters, I actually enjoyed much of my medicine rotation and my surgery rotation, despite the hours.

I still didn't know what radiology practice was like, so I took a 2 week elective in 3rd year (that's all our school would allow in third year). Since the actual contribution of med students to the work in radiology is zero, I watched intently the work of the residents and staff and mentally placed myself in their shoes. Radiology was near the top of the list now.

By the beginning of 4th year, I had made my decision. It wasn't an easy one to make considering I actually liked clinical medicine and abadoning that was hard to do. Unlike the stereotypes of radiologists, I actually got along great with most patients and had several tell me or my staff that I was a good listener and made them feel very comfortable. Except for about 20% of patients, I really enjoyed my interactions as well. The clincher was when my advisor, who was a prominent internist, told me to stay away from internal medicine and that radiology was a great choice.

I'm happy with my decision and really enjoy the practice of radiology. Unlike what some bitter clinicians perceive, my favorite cases are those where I can make a difference in the care of the patient. Having your clinical colleagues trust your opinion and act on your diagnosis is very satisfying to me. Do I wonder sometimes what it would've been like had I gone into clinical medicine? Sure I do. But those times are few and far between.

 

[Gfunk6]

When did you decide that radiology was the right career choice for you?

Probably when they opened the envelope from the NBME and saw that they scored > 240 on Step 1.

 

[bigfrank]

Probably when they opened the envelope from the NBME and saw that they scored > 240 on Step 1.

This as a prerequisite is widely propagated but ultimately false.

 

[DrDarwin]

during the first week of my surgery rotation.

...and I'm only a first year!

 

[Vince]

In hindsight...I did really enjoy when the radiologists came and lectured during 1st and 2nd year. But the urologists were good lecturers too. Throughout first and 2nd year I thought I was going to do Emergency Medicine, being a Paramedic before med school.

I read Felson's CXR book 2nd year during Cardiology.....couldn't put it down....really cool stuff.

First rotation of 3rd year: FP - hated it...yuck!

Second rotation: Sugery - okay but not for me. Talked with a distant relative about radiology who started out in Anesthesia...became really bored with it and switched to Surgery....then got sick of q2 and the BS so was able to get into a Radiology Residency and he said it was "the best decision I ever made." So I started pondering it...

Started looking into the training and reading about the specialty, etc. over the next few months periodically.

During my 6th rotation of 3rd year (1/2 way through year) picked up a physics book on MRI, "Understanding MRI", and read most of it and it was pretty cool....yeah, sad, I know. Then during that rotation I sort of moved it to the top of my list but wasn't completely certain....

6th rotation was IM and social admits and placement got old quick but it was cool to go down and discuss cases with the radiologist. Thinking back, I do remember saying I wanted to go into Radiology when people asked me around this time...

Went to my first radiology conference (SIR) later in my third year and was thrilled about the possibility of Radiology as a specialty....and after another conference a couple months later on CT/MRI (which cost me $400), I left KNOWING I wanted to go into radiology. I had easily already made the decision before my first radiology rotation, and it was only confirmed after my radiology rotations.

And with internship almost over (~2months to go!) I have no doubt I am going into the right specialty...its the best specialty in medicine.

Doctors can be broken down into two basic types at some point in time....radiologists, and those that want to be radiologists.

If someone told me 10 years ago when I was a paramedic student that someday I would be a radiologist I would have said...."Huh? a What?"

Life is crazy.

 

[MD Dreams]

This as a prerequisite is widely propagated but ultimately false.

Do you mean that one doesn't need such a high score? Is it easier to get into radiology than thought? Thanks.

 

[txguy]

Doctors can be broken down into two basic types at some point in time....radiologists, and those that want to be radiologists.

Nice!!!!

-tx

 

[flux=rad]

Do you mean that one doesn't need such a high score? Is it easier to get into radiology than thought? Thanks.

Clearly you don't absolutely need a 240. Radiology isn't easy, but sometimes the level of difficulty in securing a spot is exaggerated. There are quite a few spots in radiology, in both university and community settings. And it's not as if the entire group of students who killed Step 1 are applying to the field- there are plenty of other popular and competitive specialties. Naturally given the current climate high board scores are certainly going to augment your chances at the most well-regarded programs.

 

[ttumed]

I decided 3 weeks into my 1st 3rd year rotation, which was medicine. Really I'm not such a fan of clinical medicine. i loved 1st and 2nd year, but man patients wear me out. I'm emotionally drained after fixing them all day. Also, I like working with computers/technology, I always like the anatomy and path and hey the pay/hours are almost unrivaled. I swore if I didn't match radiology I was going to quit medicine go back and get a computer science degree and start a company developing front end apps for radiologist. Hrm... it's not too late is it?

And to comment on an above post.... when I asked many attendings last year what they wish they would have done, everyone of them said radiology... I think that stuck with me.

 

[Tool_fan]

Here Here. I could not agree with you any more. I have similar interests and experiences in medicine. Wonderful thread overall--I pretty much agree with every post so far! Props to the OP =)

I decided 3 weeks into my 1st 3rd year rotation, which was medicine. Really I'm not such a fan of clinical medicine. i loved 1st and 2nd year, but man patients wear me out. I'm emotionally drained after fixing them all day. Also, I like working with computers/technology, I always like the anatomy and path and hey the pay/hours are almost unrivaled. I swore if I didn't match radiology I was going to quit medicine go back and get a computer science degree and start a company developing front end apps for radiologist. Hrm... it's not too late is it?

And to comment on an above post.... when I asked many attendings last year what they wish they would have done, everyone of them said radiology... I think that stuck with me.

 

[Gfunk6]

This as a prerequisite is widely propagated but ultimately false.

Oh, I didn't mean to imply a 240 is required to match into Radiology. My only point is that when you get such a high score your options are very broad.

 

[bigfrank]

Oh, I didn't mean to imply a 240 is required to match into Radiology. My only point is that when you get such a high score your options are very broad.

 

[durban]

I was set on IM until seeing my 100th obese, diabetic ER referal in the IM resident's clinic each of whom I had to work up from scratch and who could not tell me the type of surgery they had the previous month. I knew that private practice or specialty IM would not be like that, but something snapped and I changed my app to radiology in one afternoon. Had a 214 step 1, average grades, no research, but still got some good interviews at university and community programs and matched at my #2, a solid community program. I have never looked back and can't believe I considered anything else.