Why is Psychiatry not part of the "ROAD" to happiness

[Armadillos]

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[Frazier]

Every specialty has risk of violence...

EM and belligerent patients under the influence.

Uro and unhappy patients due to impotence. Doc was killed in his office not too long ago.

Surgery and disgruntled family members. Murder of the surgeon in Boston just last week.

Etc.

As noted above, if anything you might be a little more protected in psych given that you already should be on your toes and extra cautious around the patient population.

 

[Techmed07]

Bump. Thoughts on the direction of psychiatry since this Initial post started?

 

[Mad Jack]

Because you don't make near as much money as those other ones plus PROAD isn't a word

Depends. I know a few high six and low seven figure psychiatrists. It is one of the last fields with real business potential

 

[Shufflin]

ROAD isn't relevant anymore. Anesthesiology isn't a road to happiness like it was 10 years ago, it's a road to being owned by management, forced to take on more risk overseeing CRNAs, and fixed incomes with less schedule control, not to mention high risk work. Ophthalmology is saturated in the desirable areas of the country.

Psychiatry is, in my experience thus far, part of the rising specialties that really do fit the bill for best work-life-income balance.

 

[Crayola227]

There likely won't be a lack of demand any time soon in this society.

 

[mymembernames]

Wondered about this as well...


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[Shufflin]

Here's a shocker. From 2010 to 2015, the percentage change in the number of active psychiatrists actually went down. Down by 1.4%

Given the huge demand for mental health and it being more in the public eye, I would have guessed the number to be much higher.

Source: 2016 Physician Specialty Data Report - Data and Reports - Workforce - Data and Analysis - AAMC

 

[SpartanWolverine]

ROAD isn't relevant anymore. Anesthesiology isn't a road to happiness like it was 10 years ago, it's a road to being owned by management, forced to take on more risk overseeing CRNAs, and fixed incomes with less schedule control, not to mention high risk work. Ophthalmology is saturated in the desirable areas of the country.

Psychiatry is, in my experience thus far, part of the rising specialties that really do fit the bill for best work-life-income balance.

Rads has also decreased in competitiveness and compensation over the last handful of years. "ROAD" is just an old acronym that doesn't quite hold true... well, maybe except for the dermatology part.

 

[Shufflin]

Whether or not Medscape deserves any credibility, they did produce a survey in 2018 that asked which physicians were "extremely happy" at work. The specialists most likely to report that they are were:

Ophthalmologists (37%)
Orthopedic Surgeons (35%) = Plastic surgeons (35%)
Pathologists (34%)
Psychiatrists (33%) = Dermatologists (33%) = Gastroenterologists (33%)

... for whatever this is worth, there's your road to happiness my friends. I take it as a general weather vane that we in Psych are among the most satisfied.

 

[Crayola227]

Everyone's getting out of medicine sooner these days, or whatever about older docs retiring or turnover in medicine. I'm shocked that many docs in any specialty were extremely happy, although I'm glad for that.

When I see less encouraging figures, where it basically looks like everyone hates their job, it seems like there are a few specialties where people hate it less, anyway.

 

[Crayola227]

I haven't read the whole thread, but it's pretty obvious why psych isn't part of ROAD, no matter how crappy that acronym is these days. It isn't glamorous, it isn't the highest paid (although I think most physician compensation, or any income past 6 figures tends to be pretty decent), and you only like it if you like it.

I can imagine punching the clock in a lot of specialties, like anesthesia, medicine, derm, surgery, etc etc. Psych is emotionally challenging in a way that most people are just not built for, if you ask me. I absolutely understand why it's typically been treated as its own entity in the whole field of medicine. Not for the derogatory reasons that can come up, but it's special.

 

[Georgit]

There is a very good chance during our careers, whether it's a good thing or not, that we are going to move towards some sort of government healthcare system, and there is a very good chance that such a system would either implicitly or explicitly hostile towards private practice psychiatry models

In Italy we have a government healthcare system The system in itself is not hostile at all towards private practice. If you pay for yourself the government is pretty pretty happy, and usually it tries to make you pay some of the bill.
In a system lke this psychiatrists are in much better position than other specialities, government cover only basic needs ( often for unemployed hardcore patients, the money is not there ). If you want more time and attention you have to pay. There is less space for private practice, but still a lot. And it is possible to mix the work for the governmet system with private practice, with some rules.

 

[Shufflin]

I haven't read the whole thread, but it's pretty obvious why psych isn't part of ROAD, no matter how crappy that acronym is these days. It isn't glamorous, it isn't the highest paid (although I think most physician compensation, or any income past 6 figures tends to be pretty decent), and you only like it if you like it.

I can imagine punching the clock in a lot of specialties, like anesthesia, medicine, derm, surgery, etc etc. Psych is emotionally challenging in a way that most people are just not built for, if you ask me. I absolutely understand why it's typically been treated as its own entity in the whole field of medicine. Not for the derogatory reasons that can come up, but it's special.

Good points here.

Pondering on it some more, you can teach pretty much all med students how to interpret lab values and use a scalpel. You cannot teach everyone how to be empathetic with crazy people and many wouldn't want to anyway. So we are on the fringe. We enter medical school to explore, to discover where our interests and passions lie. We focus on white coats and scrubs, what those roles expect us to expect. I had to warm up to psychiatry, like so many. It was a world that, at first, seemed a bit bizarre, frightening, difficult to digest. Then I began to realize an oasis of fascination and interest, that I was very effective at it, and being rather effective really grabbed me. But we are the fringe, not quite classic medicine, not psychology, somewhere in the curious middle.

 

[finalpsychyear]

Good points here.

Pondering on it some more, you can teach pretty much all med students how to interpret lab values and use a scalpel. You cannot teach everyone how to be empathetic with crazy people and many wouldn't want to anyway. So we are on the fringe. We enter medical school to explore, to discover where our interests and passions lie. We focus on white coats and scrubs, what those roles expect us to expect. I had to warm up to psychiatry, like so many. It was a world that, at first, seemed a bit bizarre, frightening, difficult to digest. Then I began to realize an oasis of fascination and interest, that I was very effective at it, and being rather effective really grabbed me. But we are the fringe, not quite classic medicine, not psychology, somewhere in the curious middle.

I feel all doctors do not like to talk too much to patients mostly because it is draining. Psychiatry is mostly all talking or listening. It can be easier doing procedure after procedure. Overtalking is mentally and physically draining. I have lost my voice already a few times and it sucks.