Which field in medicine has the best lifestyle?

[pocahontas]

i always hear the radiology is a great lifestyle but i've also read that this has been changing and the workload has increased dramatically. does that mean derm, optho, anesthesiology? WHich field in medicine would you say has the best lifestyle?

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[bigdan]

derm

 

[Caesars0331]

This one

 

[EctopicFetus]

This one

Caesar is right.. But i think one that is highly underrated is.. Pediatric CT Surgery.. Those guys barely work.

 

[ericdamiansean]

Ophthalmology

 

[Mumpu]

Derm, opthalmology, radiology (unless you do interventional), anesthesiology (unless you do critical care), emergency medicine, psych.

Peds CT surgery may not be super busy but you are looking at a 10+ years of post-graduate training.

 

[Jaded Soul]

It's interesting how a quarter-century later, the NPC ("No Patient Care") Specialties of The House of God are still the good lifestyle specialties.

RAYS, GAS, PATH, DERM, OPHTHO, PSYCH

 

[Mumpu]

That's precisely what I was quoting. Emergency medicine joined the ranks now too (not an NPC but a very good lifestyle).

 

[WilliamHung]

If the questions is expanded to ask "Of the surgical fields that are emotionally very very rewarding, relatively stress-free, full of constant daily variety, low in malpractice insurance premiums, have great quality patient contact, are characterized by constantly improving technology and are currently among the most immune to the whims of managed care, which of these have the best lifestyle?", I would have to say INFERTILITY (REI) as it has no night call, almost no emergencies, and you are potentially able to generate 300-400K/year with about 40 hours/week

 

[roja]

Em

 

[doc05]

If the questions is expanded to ask "Of the surgical fields that are emotionally very very rewarding, relatively stress-free, full of constant daily variety, low in malpractice insurance premiums, have great quality patient contact, are characterized by constantly improving technology and are currently among the most immune to the whims of managed care, which of these have the best lifestyle?", I would have to say INFERTILITY (REI) as it has no night call, almost no emergencies, and you are potentially able to generate 300-400K/year with about 40 hours/week

except that there is NO VARIETY in practice of REI, and that you have to endure 4 years of ob-gyn residency, where you train among the most miserable people on earth.

 

[pocahontas]

thanks for your answers! i also found this website that has been helpful: http://medicine.wustl.edu/~residenc/outside/spec/byspec.html

 

[WilliamHung]

except that there is NO VARIETY in practice of REI, and that you have to endure 4 years of ob-gyn residency, where you train among the most miserable people on earth.

I guess I'm not sure what definition of variety we're using, but I actually can't think of another field that clearly has more variety with respect to how different the patients are (both medically and personality-wise), how different the days are (patient contact, office procedures, laparoscopic surgery, high tech IVF, the need for business and marketing sense). The biggest lack of variety is that our patients are almost all between 21 and 45 and are relatively healthy (no chronic HTN, cirrhosis, dementia, etc)

But you did hit on one of the main drawbacks is that you can't apply until you do a 4 year OB residency. And even worse, there are only about 30 REI slots per year. My advice to anyone interested is to avoid any of the more malignant, unhappy OB programs of which there are many. There ARE healthy, fun OB programs out there. Mine was.

 

[pocahontas]

i'm talkin SHORTEST residency path, highest pay, least work hours per week. all medical fields are rewarding in their own way so job satisfaction shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Long Dong]

Which residency well allow you to get the most sleep?

 

[pocahontas]

haha...well sleep and the time to pursue other interests...family, travelling, whatever...

 

[salivadrop]

what does REI stands for? and how many years of residency in additional to the 4 years training in OB?

 

[kchan99]

It's interesting how a quarter-century later, the NPC ("No Patient Care") Specialties of The House of God are still the good lifestyle specialties.

RAYS, GAS, PATH, DERM, OPHTHO, PSYCH

Are the NPC specialties the 6 you just listed?

 

[stormjen]

.

 

[kchan99]

I can understand why rays, path and even gas are on NPC list. I suppose anesthesiologists deal with "sleeping" patients. When I had surgery, I saw my anesthesiologist for about 5 min. right before I was put under.

 

[Mumpu]

If you want to sleep and make a lot of money, you should not go into medicine. I have friends in finances and marketing who, three years out of college, make more than I will after 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency.

 

[Long Dong]

If you want to sleep and make a lot of money, you should not go into medicine. I have friends in finances and marketing who, three years out of college, make more than I will after 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency.

To late already a second year, owe to much to back out now. But I also hate numbers and math, also hate the law and cleaning peoples teeth. So medicine it is, I'm just fasinated about how the human body works and pathology. Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

[dakotaman]

If you want to sleep and make a lot of money, you should not go into medicine. I have friends in finances and marketing who, three years out of college, make more than I will after 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency.

Assuming you're telling the truth, this is anecdotal and probably not the norm. A marketing type of job is much more economy-dependent. There's probably not as much job security as well. Physicians can almost always get work regardless of the economy.

EVERY job/career has its difficulties. Medicine is no different! While medical school isn't always fun, I know in the end I'll lead a more fulfilling life.

 

[Jaded Soul]

Since when do Dermatology and Ophthalmology not have patient contact?

I never said they didn't have patient contact. It's a reference to The House of God. Read it. Then you'll get it.

 

[Jamaican MD]

I'm glad to see EM on the list. I like the idea of shift work. And ER docs do cool stuff.

 

[hypersting]

Even though the compensation goes down, primary care docs can have a great lifestyle. There's a reason 66% of Peds residents are women. Accordingly, there's a huge increase in part timers over the last few years (~35 hrs/wk). So add to the list, FP and Peds at least. Just because someone isn't competitive enough to get Optho or Rads, they can still get a lifestyle speciality (just not one that is compensated at the same level). The MD degree is incredibly versatile. There are other ways to get a good lifestyle, consulting, health policy work (hours are 9-5 essentially, depending on your position), etc. I think its unfair to just trot out the same few high pay, high lifestyle specialities (not Path and Psych, of course).

Also, if pay is your primary pregorative, do business where your job is to make money, so you are directly working towards your goal. In medicine, your job is to perform a service for which you are compensated. A physician (not in private practice) can never have the same upside potential as a businessman. Many skilled blue collar workers, if they use invest wisely will make more than physicians over the course of their lifetimes. Think about that.

 

[Tristero]

Many skilled blue collar workers, if they use invest wisely will make more than physicians over the course of their lifetimes. Think about that.

Bullsh*t.

 

[thackl]

Bullsh*t.

I worked for 7yrs and invested for 6 before going to med shcool. I guarantee I will have more in my retirement war-chest at age 60 than most Dr's. Do some research on compound interest. Small amounts put away at age 20 are far more effective than massive amounts put away at 35 and 40.

 

[LuckyMD2b]

I worked for 7yrs and invested for 6 before going to med shcool. I guarantee I will have more in my retirement war-chest at age 60 than most Dr's. Do some research on compound interest. Small amounts put away at age 20 are far more effective than massive amounts put away at 35 and 40.

How many "blue collar" workers have the luxury of putting a significant amount of income into their "retirement war-chest?"

How many 20 year-olds that you know are responsibly saving money towards thier retirements? Of the folks I know who didn't go to college and were working at 20, they weren't making nearly enough to do this.

Many skilled blue collar workers, if they use invest wisely will make more than physicians over the course of their lifetimes.

You're not being realisitic if you think that the average worker supporting a family and making 35k/year can save more than a physician making at least 4 times as much.

 

[kchan99]

I started putting aside summer job money in mutual funds when I was 14. I got a Roth IRA or two when I was 19. I think my portfolio was worth between 5K and 10K before the market took a dive.

 

[Mumpu]

Jamaican, ER docs do A LOT of scut. Probably more than any other medical specialty.

 

[EctopicFetus]

I started putting aside summer job money in mutual funds when I was 14. I got a Roth IRA or two when I was 19. I think my portfolio was worth between 5K and 10K before the market took a dive.

So what you are saying is the 10K you have saved gives you that big of a head start? You must be kidding. using the rule of 72 if you earned 9% it would take you 8 years to have 20K, then another 8 years you would have 40K. So in 16 years you would have this money. This is assuming a very healthy (better than average) return in the market after taking into account the dive we have had recently. I think a physician can save 40K pretty quickly.. Hmm like in 2 years no sweat...

Please rethink your position..

 

[BeastNovot]

Concerning making money.. I know a significant portion of people with whom I went to high school and college, who will be making much more $$ than I will, and certainly have had a much nicer life style than I have had for the past 10 years. That's worth quite a bit, IMO. Medicine is not the way to go if you want to make $$. It is a nice way to make an excellent salary, and to work your tail off while you are doing it.

Having said that... back to the OP's question... why it is Pathology, of course! My suntan was the best it had been in years after my first year of path residency! Come join us! You know you want it...

 

[hypersting]

How many "blue collar" workers have the luxury of putting a significant amount of income into their "retirement war-chest?"

How many 20 year-olds that you know are responsibly saving money towards thier retirements? Of the folks I know who didn't go to college and were working at 20, they weren't making nearly enough to do this.



You're not being realisitic if you think that the average worker supporting a family and making 35k/year can save more than a physician making at least 4 times as much.

KEY word was SKILLED .... let me qualify. I may have left out a couple words in my original post. I was referring to not those who hold jobs in the blue collar profession, but own their own business or are independent contractors. I know of several such people who make well over 500K. Look at the prices for their product. If a plumber or an electrician charges $75/hr, how much less is that than the doc who makes $125/hr doing locum tenes? Now figure that this person starts making this money 10 years earlier and has that amount of interest compounded. Again, its not the person working in these fields doing menial work and bringing home 35K. Its the owner of the business (or in some cases self employed) in a blue collar field that will be to surpass the lifetime income of a physician. The big downfall of being a physician or other such service professions is that you have to be there to get paid. You show up, you make money. You don't, someone else does. They are time-dependent. Businessmen and other people can leverage their time through various methods to make money even when they are not there. That's the reason they have the potential to surpass physicians easily. I hope I clarified what I was saying.

 

[dakotaman]

KEY word was SKILLED .... let me qualify. I may have left out a couple words in my original post. I was referring to not those who hold jobs in the blue collar profession, but own their own business or are independent contractors. I know of several such people who make well over 500K. Look at the prices for their product. If a plumber or an electrician charges $75/hr, how much less is that than the doc who makes $125/hr doing locum tenes? Now figure that this person starts making this money 10 years earlier and has that amount of interest compounded. Again, its not the person working in these fields doing menial work and bringing home 35K. Its the owner of the business (or in some cases self employed) in a blue collar field that will be to surpass the lifetime income of a physician. The big downfall of being a physician or other such service professions is that you have to be there to get paid. You show up, you make money. You don't, someone else does. They are time-dependent. Businessmen and other people can leverage their time through various methods to make money even when they are not there. That's the reason they have the potential to surpass physicians easily. I hope I clarified what I was saying.

If you're a good businessman then you'll make a ton of money. If you're a skilled worker (and you're lucky, in my opinion), you might make a ton of money. No one claims that being a physician is the best way to try to get rich! Unlike many other jobs, though, you're virtually guaranteed a good income and stability. Autonomy. The opportunity to do a lot of good in your community. The opportunity to be a leader. It comes at a cost, no doubt, but isn't everything that's worthwhile in life difficult?

 

[dunson]

doctors make 125/hr? well an attorney bills his client at minimum 250/hr and then gets a 1/3 of the settlement=sweet deal
i knew that lsat score smelt like money!

 

[Fermata]

doctors make 125/hr? well an attorney bills his client at minimum 250/hr and then gets a 1/3 of the settlement=sweet deal
i knew that lsat score smelt like money!

The average lawyer doesn't make near what the average doc does.

 

[azzarah]

Medicine might not be the fastest way to make $$, but the job security is unbeatable.

 

[ddmo]

The average lawyer doesn't make near what the average doc does.

Very true! There is such an abundance of lawyers (people with law degrees) that there is a huge disparity in their salaries. Everyone always thinks of your celebrity lawyer or malpractice thief like John Edwards, but the vast majority of private lawyers don't make anywhere near those salaries. As opposed to medicine where it is almost certain that you will make 100K a year, if not significantly higher. In fact, MD or DO degrees are the only ones I can think of where one is guaranteed to make so much. money.

 

[Mike59]

After a recent rotation I'd have to say PATHOLOGY hands down....However, there's a heck of a lot of responsibility as they are the ones calling the Dx and giving info that guides treatment- these folks are laid back but are also smart as a whip!

 

[DW]

yeah, sometimes I wonder if there is going to be a surge in people interested in path in the near future. the hours are as close to a "normal" job as any field in medicine, the compensation is decent, and it doesnt seem to have the same concerns about malpractice as say surgery or OB has. I guess the lack of patient contact and alleged tight job market make it a little less appealing than say anesthesia or something, but other than that the handful of path residents I've met seem to have pretty chill lives these days...

I'm just an ignorant 2nd year, don't mind me though

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

So, for future reference, here's a list in approximately decreasing order of "golf time":

1. Dermatology
2. Radiology
3. Pathology
4. Ophthalmology
5. Anesthesiology
6. Emergency Medicine
7. Preventive Medicine
8. Physical Medicine and Rahabilitation
9. Psychiatry
10. Family Practice

I haven't included anything that requires a fellowship.

 

[Resident Alien]

I dont think a full time working radiologist would be up there on the list. But they still have manageable lives.

 

[Mumpu]

I can't imagine spending my life going "Cancer, not cancer. IBD, not IBD. Cancer, not cancer. IBD, not IBD."

This is the gist of why consulting specialists have little appeal to me. Everything is "clinical correlation suggested" because the internist (or family or pediatrician) is the only one who has actually seen the patient.

 

[Firebird]

If you want to sleep and make a lot of money, you should not go into medicine. I have friends in finances and marketing who, three years out of college, make more than I will after 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency.

Except stock brokers don't sleep. And they all die of cardiopulmonary disease in their late thirties from all the stress, without exception.