Why don't many Docs go into Neuro?

[Sartre79]

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I'm interested in Neuro, but have heard from others that it isn't a sought after specialty. From what I've seen it is a seldom selected specialty (at least by grads from my school) and I've heard that it is very popular with foreign medical grads trying to get into US residency programs....why is this so? Any insight?

 

[pdz]

The issue with the not sought after specialties has to do with how little they pay compared to others. All the competitive specialties are potentially lucrative, for that reason they're competitive. In neurology you'll never make the money you'll make in, let's say, gas, opth, derm, etc...

That also explains why neuro residencies are very friendly to international medical graduates. Since they can't attract the competitive US graduates, they have no other choice but to recruit the competitive international ones.

These are my .02 cents.

 

[Sartre79]

The issue with the not sought after specialties has to do with how little they pay compared to others. All the competitive specialties are potentially lucrative, for that reason they're competitive. In neurology you'll never make the money you'll make in, let's say, gas, opth, derm, etc...

That also explains why neuro residencies are very friendly to international medical graduates. Since they can't attract the competitive US graduates, they have no other choice but to recruit the competitive international ones.

These are my .02 cents.

But Neuro makes more money (on average) than most other primary care specialties...so why don't people who go into peds, int med, family practice choose Neuro if money is the motivating factor?

 

[UMED122]

Well, if they're choosing family or peds, chances are money isn't the motivating factor to begin with.

 

[minstral]

i didnt want to bother answering this but snce PDZ gave such a misinformed answer it seems necessary.

No you wont make as much as derm etc in Neuro. However Neuro is somewhat hard to get into as an IMG. More IMGs want in but more are not getting in. Look at most programs residents and you will not see a lot of IMGs.

They want in because IM is a grind for less pay. They want in because many lucrative fellowships are open to neuro(sleep, emg, intervntional, pain etc). They want in but most spots go to dedicated AMG. Who don't need to be top of their class but do need to show true interest in neuro not just something they fell into. IMGs are trying to buck the trend but most PDs are not buying into it.

You can be a neurologist with hours like 8-6 and make well into the mids 200k range after some experience. On a per hour basis neurologist do pretty well.

 

[Sartre79]

i didnt want to bother answering this but snce PDZ gave such a misinformed answer it seems necessary.

No you wont make as much as derm etc in Neuro. However Neuro is somewhat hard to get into as an IMG. More IMGs want in but more are not getting in. Look at most programs residents and you will not see a lot of IMGs.

They want in because IM is a grind for less pay. They want in because many lucrative fellowships are open to neuro(sleep, emg, intervntional, pain etc). They want in but most spots go to dedicated AMG. Who don't need to be top of their class but do need to show true interest in neuro not just something they fell into. IMGs are trying to buck the trend but most PDs are not buying into it.

You can be a neurologist with hours like 8-6 and make well into the mids 200k range after some experience. On a per hour basis neurologist do pretty well.

Is there a part of the work/job that deters some people from entering into the specialty? I have heard that Neuro is really challenging intellectually, which I would like. It has also been mentioned that the nature of the diseases Neuro docs treat can be somewhat "depressing" (not my words...just trying to sort fact from fiction) given their debilitating nature. Thanks for the input so far!