Q&A for Female Radiology Residents

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channa115

channa115

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Hello SDNers, I'm currently a 3rd year medical student rounding out the end of her third year and struggling to decide what residency to choose before 4th year electives begin. Right now the two I'm deciding upon are Radiology and Internal Medicine. I've been through the forums and read some old posts about female radiologists but I have a couple of questions of my own that I think would help me in deciding. Would really appreciate all the input I can get.

So here it goes:

1) What drew you to radiology?
2) Where you considering any other fields seriously? And if so, why did you end up choosing radiology?
3) According to the Frieda statistics for diagnostic rads, women make up 26.7% of residents. Do you ever feel like you have to be part of the "boy's club" or avoid being feminine to fit in with your colleagues?
4) Do you ever miss managing or treating patients? I realize this is a generalization and does not apply to radiology across the board, but I guess as a diagnostician you do less treating than an internist would.
5) Is your program supportive of pregnant women? Any stigma from your male colleagues? And how much time do you get off?
6) What is something that you didn't know about radiology going in, that surprised you in a good way? What is something that may have surprised you in a bad way?
 
I am also a female interested in this field and would like to know more.
 
channa115 said:
Hello SDNers, I'm currently a 3rd year medical student rounding out the end of her third year and struggling to decide what residency to choose before 4th year electives begin. Right now the two I'm deciding upon are Radiology and Internal Medicine. I've been through the forums and read some old posts about female radiologists but I have a couple of questions of my own that I think would help me in deciding. Would really appreciate all the input I can get.

So here it goes:

1) What drew you to radiology?
2) Where you considering any other fields seriously? And if so, why did you end up choosing radiology?
3) According to the Frieda statistics for diagnostic rads, women make up 26.7% of residents. Do you ever feel like you have to be part of the "boy's club" or avoid being feminine to fit in with your colleagues?
4) Do you ever miss managing or treating patients? I realize this is a generalization and does not apply to radiology across the board, but I guess as a diagnostician you do less treating than an internist would.
5) Is your program supportive of pregnant women? Any stigma from your male colleagues? And how much time do you get off?
6) What is something that you didn't know about radiology going in, that surprised you in a good way? What is something that may have surprised you in a bad way?
Click to expand...
Again, not female, but just wanted to post some attempts from anecdotal observations of classmates and friends:
1. A 1950's-type stereotype and generalization, but nonetheless the words I've heard from both female classmates and attendings promoting rads is that it's a decent field to have kids during residency or early-career.
2. Most who I've known (~4 of 6) were considering surgery or surgical subspecialties (were all competitive applicants) but opted for rads because of perceived lifestyle.
3. Can't answer
4. Can't answer from a female's perspective, but my rationalization is that as a DR, I'll serve a greater number of patients than an internist or surgeon would (albeit less impactful but still an essential part of their care). I'm a mere MS4 so no experience of missing patients yet, but as far as patient contact there is the option of IR, which is in a neat state of development right now.
5. One thing important to some female applicants on the trail were the number of female residents or attendings. Another thing promoted by programs were women in radiology groups/luncheons they hosted. A 'warning' some gave is be weary of smaller programs, getting pregnant, and being resented by co-residents for getting out of call or fluoro/IR rotations during pregnancy and maternity leave.
6. Again, IDK

Sorry for the lack of female responses - guess it's an appropriate representation of the male predominance. Hopefully these answers are either useful or wrong enough to stimulate someone to post and clarify.
 
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