Why are ID specialists the happiest doctors?

[dcwm]

ID is probably second to only Derm in terms of happiness on most polls/statistics I've seen over the internet. Talking to some fellows and attendings has confirmed it. When I asked one of them why are they so happy, s/he said "because we have freedom in our practice, we don't follow strict evidence-based protocols and guidelines like i.e. cardiology". Which may or may not be true but that was his/her reason.

Why? I understand that the lifestyle is good. But the pay is still the lowest out of all specialties. How good does the lifestyle have to be to compensate for the "low" income? Do they work <30 hour weeks and spend most of that time playing Twister together or something?

Seriously though, what is the secret? Am I missing out?

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[thierryhenry]

most interesting field in medicine

 

[Ivos]

Perhaps the possibility of actually curing the majority of patients?

 

[FrisbeeDocIM]

Disclaimer: I'll be applying for ID this summer.

I couldn't find the article after a cursory Google search, but there's some evidence that annual income and happiness lose their correlation at about the $50k-75k/year mark. Any doctor will make more than this, so it really comes down to your expectations regarding being happy with an ID salary. That said, I think the happiness may be indirectly related to the lower salary; by that I mean only people who are actually interested in ID will pursue a career in ID. This leads to happier careers than those who choose a fellowship based off salary rather than interest in the field.

And ID docs do not really have it cush... services can be very busy, especially in larger academic centers.

Note: I'm not saying all cardiologist/GI/heme-onc docs are in it for the money. All I can say is that there's a correlation between income and competitiveness, and I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

 

[runnergal]

Disclaimer: I'll be applying for ID this summer.

I couldn't find the article after a cursory Google search, but there's some evidence that annual income and happiness lose their correlation at about the $50k-75k/year mark. Any doctor will make more than this, so it really comes down to your expectations regarding being happy with an ID salary. That said, I think the happiness may be indirectly related to the lower salary; by that I mean only people who are actually interested in ID will pursue a career in ID. This leads to happier careers than those who choose a fellowship based off salary rather than interest in the field.

And ID docs do not really have it cush... services can be very busy, especially in larger academic centers.

Note: I'm not saying all cardiologist/GI/heme-onc docs are in it for the money. All I can say is that there's a correlation between income and competitiveness, and I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Maybe happy before they went into ID....

Like a lot of happy folks choose ID, because they are already happy and money will not make them happier ...

 

[maxwell_edison]

It's a fascinating subject, with lots of puzzling cases (as well as monotonous ones). The most basic of cases get filtered out by general IM folks.

Usually there's time to actually interact with the patient as well (detailed history is key). Lots of time spent, but much can be done from home / on the road (phone consults for other docs, calling to check on patients).

Pay is plenty for any doc. And isn't bad. Lots of ID folks are going to be in public health centric positions (Health officer, etc) as well, which can drag down the salary.

Plus, with the advent of Harvoni and the other DAA hepatitis C treatments, ID folks can easily make their pay worthwhile in a manner very tangible to health plans. Finding a couple improper prescriptions saves well over the average salary of ID docs in improper prescribing.

 

[sunset823]

I'm most likely applying ID in the future as well; I would echo the comments above that
a) it's interesting (medical mysteries - I'm someone who enjoys detective shows, always thought I'd have the chops to be a PI, and you get to do that in medicine! and
b) likelihood of curing patients; I also enjoy the work of palliative care, but it wears on you, and when I get the really sick elderly pt spiking 104 fevers with a weird tick infection who was started on therapy, and was out mountain biking and grilling 5 days later, one of my most satisfying moments of residency

That's not to say it's not busy. My ID consult months I was regularly in the hospital until 8 or even 10 PM (very busy academic center), but I enjoyed every minute of it, that's what counts. I think, as they said, people who go into it go cuz they love it (and I've always had an interest in it since high school), and clearly not for the money.

 

[TheIDLife]

I did a consult on chronic constipation and was able to diagnose Chagas. If you don't think that's epic, then ID probably isn't for you.

 

[cjd21]

I did a consult on chronic constipation and was able to diagnose Chagas. If you don't think that's epic, then ID probably isn't for you.

That is so cool! I know of a case of 18 year old presenting with syncope which turned out to be lyme disease!

 

[Kahreek]

viral encephalitis?

 

[Successor12]

viral encephalitis?