Radiologists, Would You Do It All Over Again?

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No responses, you know what that means.
 
Medscape had a survey which asked if you would choose the same specialty again. Radiology was one of the top 3 for satisfied with their specialty of choice FWIW.
 
There are maybe like two radiologists who regularly visit these forums. I am in fellowship, have a job lined up, and have had considerable moonlighting experience at a few private practices, but i don't think i can give you a real answer yet. It's hard to say anyways- i don't know how it could have been. My friend in optho seems to have a pretty good gig.... but I really don't think id like that kind of patient interaction. Pathology is also appealing to me, but there are many downsides to path as well.

I think one thing that surprised me about radiology is that its not as cush as I thought it'd be. Radiologists work hard, long hours including nights and weekends. My friends in family med and IM have more laid back jobs (easier intellectually and less hours), although for less money (but less time in training and less stressful work). But agani, that kind of patient interaction and that kind of job does not appeal to me.

It's really hard to know if you'll like radiology as a med student. I'd either have a rad resident/attending show you some interesting cases and/or flip through a radiology case book and see if you find that interesting. Do you think you'd mind spending a good amount of time at a desk creating reports and talking to clinicans and radiology peers about radiology topics? There;s still opportunity to a wide variety of procedures and get limited patient interaction. Does it bother you that the general public and even a lot of doctors won't really understand what you do?

Would I do it again? Yes, as of right now. I enjoy radiology and don't think any of the other fields would be as good of a fit to my personality and interests. But I would caution anyone choosing the field for lifestyle or salary- there are better specialties out there for that. Would I go to med school again? That's a whole different topic.
 
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fun8stuff said:
There are maybe like two radiologists who regularly visit these forums. I am in fellowship, have a job lined up, and have had considerable moonlighting experience at a few private practices, but i don't think i can give you a real answer yet. It's hard to say anyways- i don't know how it could have been. My friend in optho seems to have a pretty good gig.... but I really don't think id like that kind of patient interaction. Pathology is also appealing to me, but there are many downsides to path as well.

I think one thing that surprised me about radiology is that its not as cush as I thought it'd be. Radiologists work hard, long hours including nights and weekends. My friends in family med and IM have more laid back jobs (easier intellectually and less hours), although for less money (but less time in training and less stressful work). But agani, that kind of patient interaction and that kind of job does not appeal to me.

It's really hard to know if you'll like radiology as a med student. I'd either have a rad resident/attending show you some interesting cases and/or flip through a radiology case book and see if you find that interesting. Do you think you'd mind spending a good amount of time at a desk creating reports and talking to clinicans and radiology peers about radiology topics? There;s still opportunity to a wide variety of procedures and get limited patient interaction. Does it bother you that the general public and even a lot of doctors won't really understand what you do?

Would I do it again? Yes, as of right now. I enjoy radiology and don't think any of the other fields would be as good of a fit to my personality and interests. But I would caution anyone choosing the field for lifestyle or salary- there are better specialties out there for that. Would I go to med school again? That's a whole different topic.
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So, would you go to med school again?

That's the more interesting question. 🙂
 
Silent Cool said:
So, would you go to med school again?
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I'm only a resident, but I definitely would - and I'm not one of those gunner, gung-ho about medicine types. I find my outside hobbies far more interesting and I really value my time outside of work.

But with that said, I would go to medical school again. What else would I do? Business? Engineering? Law school?

I've worked outside of medicine in the 'real world' (pre- med school) - and work is work. I really didn't think medical school was that hard. And so far, residency/internship has been challenging with long hours, but really any successful career requires a great amount of dedication. And I find my work interesting and relatively painless compared to most of the other medical specialties. It's really hard to beat the pay and job security medicine offers.
 
Medicine: no way.

If in medicine, then radiology definitely yes.

Once you look back, the best years of your life from 18-30 have been spent studying or working. How much money is needed to buy those years back?
 
For all the residents (or attending) that say they would not go to med school again, how many of you worked full time out of college before med school?

This seems to come up regularly here and having worked in the real world for 2 years now out of college I can't imagine medical school taking that much more time than a "career" job from the ages of 22-30 or so. Currently 50-60 hour weeks with 3-4 weeks/year out of town are the norm for me and I don't imagine med school being any less "fun" but maybe I am still a naive pre-med.
 
For as much as medical school and residency zaps your prime years I have to say that I have had many incredible experiences while at the hospital that I would of never had otherwise. Still kind of depressing though when I see my loans growing while I am hard at work while others not in Medicine have a lot more freedom financially and the time to enjoy it.
 
doapplicant2015 said:
For all the residents (or attending) that say they would not go to med school again, how many of you worked full time out of college before med school?

This seems to come up regularly here and having worked in the real world for 2 years now out of college I can't imagine medical school taking that much more time than a "career" job from the ages of 22-30 or so. Currently 50-60 hour weeks with 3-4 weeks/year out of town are the norm for me and I don't imagine med school being any less "fun" but maybe I am still a naive pre-med.
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Your imagination is wrong.

Also medical school is nothing compared to what happens thereafter.
 
doapplicant2015 said:
For all the residents (or attending) that say they would not go to med school again, how many of you worked full time out of college before med school?

This seems to come up regularly here and having worked in the real world for 2 years now out of college I can't imagine medical school taking that much more time than a "career" job from the ages of 22-30 or so. Currently 50-60 hour weeks with 3-4 weeks/year out of town are the norm for me and I don't imagine med school being any less "fun" but maybe I am still a naive pre-med.
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HAHA please. Don't make me laugh. While it depends on the school you go to, an easy week of studying/work for me is 70 hours. I had an enormous exam this last week and easily put in 100 hours. Med school is WORK!
 
yeah lol, you dont need to memorize robbins verbatim to crush step 1
 
Decremaster said:
If you're putting in that much time in med school you're doing it wrong...
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don't think so. many of my classmates put in similar hours. I know the majority of my class. Also factor in the fact that i want to be as far right on the bell curve as possible, and quite frankly, i think i'm doing it just right.
 
I would go into radiology rather than any other specialty in medicine. Would I go into medicine again? Absolutely not.
 
doapplicant2015 said:
For all the residents (or attending) that say they would not go to med school again, how many of you worked full time out of college before med school?

This seems to come up regularly here and having worked in the real world for 2 years now out of college I can't imagine medical school taking that much more time than a "career" job from the ages of 22-30 or so. Currently 50-60 hour weeks with 3-4 weeks/year out of town are the norm for me and I don't imagine med school being any less "fun" but maybe I am still a naive pre-med.
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I worked full-time between college and med school. As shark states, you sacrifice a whole lot of your life if you go the medicine route that you don't fully understand until you are a couple years into residency, are drowning in debt, working like a dog, and your non-medicine friends are living it up debt free.
 
AlexMorph said:
I worked full-time between college and med school. As shark states, you sacrifice a whole lot of your life if you go the medicine route that you don't fully understand until you are a couple years into residency, are drowning in debt, working like a dog, and your non-medicine friends are living it up debt free.
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This is probably pretty common, but I can assure you, there are many in med school who can also enjoy their 20's. Please don't try to speak for everyone, but either way, warning people is still good advice, as residency is a different story than medical school.

Ugh just saw I am still listed as pre-med.
 
I think I'll elaborate on my last post in a bit of self reflection. I haven't been on this board in years. When I last frequented it, about 6-7 years ago as a medical student, there was a shortage of radiologists. CT and MRI had become standard of care for the diagnosis of most medical conditions and there were not enough radiologists being trained at the time to read them. Every graduating fellow with a pulse was having absurd salaries with 12 weeks of vacation thrown at them. I remember posts raving of the greatness which was a life in radiology. The posts are still there if anybody is motivated enough to look.

Of course, the powers that be acted to rectify the shortage by increasing the number of trainees, and way overshot. From last I heard, about 1000 of the 1300 graduating fellows last year were able to line up employment. This year looks a little better, but not by much. This is the source of much consternation in my field. Friends who want to move to less than desirable cities can only find non-partnership track night jobs. There are simply no jobs at all in desirable geographies. In the meantime, reimbursements have gone down and existing radiologists are compensating by working themselves like crazy. Bundled payments and other ACA changes aimed at reducing health care costs are directly targeting radiologists. It's not a bright time for the field.

That being said, I wouldn't choose any other field. It's intellectually interesting, removed from a lot of the bull**** in the rest of medicine, and you make a sizable (if usually unrecognized) impact in people's lives by being good at it. Also, the same changes affecting radiology are affecting most other specialties as well. Friends I know in dermatology and cardiology are experiencing the same frustrations I am in looking for work. Primary care docs are being pushed out by mid-levels. It's a stressful time to be any kind of doctor.

And that's the rub really, being any kind of doctor sort of sucks at the moment. The big shift which has taken place very quickly over the last 5 years or so is that physician partnerships are being bought out or otherwise taken apart. This leaves most physicians to take jobs as salaried employees, and being any kind of salaried employee sucks. Whether engineer, doctor, or taco bell cashier, having some idiot boss (usually an administrator in radiology's case) tell you what to do all day sucks. Generally, you are pushed to do more with fewer resources by those who have no concept of what good medical care entails. The thing that makes life as a doctor-employee extra sucky is that you are expected to work 60-80 per week pretty much forever. It doesn't matter how much you make, being yelled at by patients, nurses, techs, administrators, etc. for most of your waking hours is a recipe for misery.

This I think is the core of why doctors are so disillusioned at the moment. You work yourself to the bone to make somebody else rich while undercutting the quality of care you provide.

And to top it off, you have to give up 10 years of your life as an entry charge to the profession. I worked as a management consultant, a research mathematician, and in the tech industry before going into medicine. Let me assure you, none compare in terms of commitment required. It is pretty much impossible to describe to outsiders how all consuming medical training is. There really becomes room for very, very little else. You loose touch with all your old friends and much of your family, and there is really no time for the self-actualizing, prolonged adolescence which your 20s are in modern society. Your actions mean life and death, and that burden demands your attention, however much you wish it didn't.

If I had to do it over, I wouldn't consider medicine for a second. I would start-up businesses until one worked out. Hell, as soon as my loans are paid off, I think I may quit and do that now. I love radiology, but the modern practice of medicine is a trap. Yes, we have it better than hourly-paid employees in retail or fast-food and to make the comparison is absurd, but as soon as you have to invoke something like to that to demonstrate why life isn't so mad, you have lost the game. There are numerous other rewarding career options out there that don't demand your life in exchange like medicine does.

Well, that's my rant for now. In short, I wouldn't do medicine again, but if would definitely stick with radiology if I had to.
 
jake2 said:
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Thank you for this post it is very insightful. Sad that medicine is such a crapshoot. The only way to truly figure out that all the negative talk you hear from physicians is true is to get into medicine yourself and by that time you realize they were right it is too late to get out 🙁

Question - do you know what the job market in radiology is for the midwest? Better/worse than most?
 
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pathologyDO said:
Thank you for this post it is very insightful. Sad that medicine is such a crapshoot. The only way to truly figure out that all the negative talk you hear from physicians is true is to get into medicine yourself and by that time you realize they were right it is too late to get out 🙁

Question - do you know what the job market in radiology is for the midwest? Better/worse than most?
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Basically kind of sucks, pretty much like everywhere. Haven't really heard of any place where people are having an easy time. Those in my class looking at the big cities in the mid-west aren't having much luck at finding good jobs, though there are salaried positions and night jobs around. Don't know anybody looking for small town in the mid-west.

I should qualify what I said by adding I do find some people around who genuinely enjoy medicine, despite the headache modern practice has become. The difficulty is, it is a significant minority of physicians who fall into that group, and you don't know if you will be one of them until about 5 years and $300k in. I wouldn't take the risk. If you are with it enough to get into med school, you'll probably be reasonably successful at something else.
 
Tri723 said:
HAHA please. Don't make me laugh. While it depends on the school you go to, an easy week of studying/work for me is 70 hours. I had an enormous exam this last week and easily put in 100 hours. Med school is WORK!
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Maybe you shouldn't have gone to medical school in the first place... Just saying.
 
IJL said:
Maybe you shouldn't have gone to medical school in the first place... Just saying.
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uhh re-read my statement carefully. i am not saying work is bad and/or whining to imaginary people. I am however, arguing against anyone trying to say med school isn't the amount of work that I do. My curriculum is set up in such a manner that this unit is an incredible amount of work now, but eases off later. there is a benefit to this, but i'd rather not go into this now.
 
Tri723 said:
uhh re-read my statement carefully. i am not saying work is bad and/or whining to imaginary people. I am however, arguing against anyone trying to say med school isn't the amount of work that I do. My curriculum is set up in such a manner that this unit is an incredible amount of work now, but eases off later. there is a benefit to this, but i'd rather not go into this now.
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Only time I EVER sniffed 100 hours/week were the few weeks preceding step 1. I don't care how your curriculum is set up, there is no excuse to be putting in those kinds of hours.
 
IJL said:
Only time I EVER sniffed 100 hours/week were the few weeks preceding step 1. I don't care how your curriculum is set up, there is no excuse to be putting in those kinds of hours.
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Here i'll explain how I ended up working/studying 100 hours that last week:

exceedingly fast-paced curriculum+desire to honor/do very well+wanting to learn the material very well for future use+week before what is considered the most difficult block/end of block test our first year.

I'm glad i did this - i have such a stronghold on that critical material. i mastered the **** out of it. Why do worse than you could, the week before thanksgiving? it's the perfect time to kill it (and take the complete break after). It was only one week of my life. If you don't agree with it, fine. My tactics work to meet my personal goals, and I will continue to use them unless they either become unsustainable or stop working.
 
IJL said:
Only time I EVER sniffed 100 hours/week were the few weeks preceding step 1. I don't care how your curriculum is set up, there is no excuse to be putting in those kinds of hours.
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Gotta watch out for the study police
 
Tri723 said:
Here i'll explain how I ended up working/studying 100 hours that last week:

exceedingly fast-paced curriculum+desire to honor/do very well+wanting to learn the material very well for future use+week before what is considered the most difficult block/end of block test our first year.

I'm glad i did this - i have such a stronghold on that critical material. i mastered the **** out of it. Why do worse than you could, the week before thanksgiving? it's the perfect time to kill it (and take the complete break after). It was only one week of my life. If you don't agree with it, fine. My tactics work to meet my personal goals, and I will continue to use them unless they either become unsustainable or stop working.
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dude. I, as well as many, have honored everything, crushed the steps, AOA, etc., and never came CLOSE to 100wks especially 1-3yrs. I had ONE vascular surgery sub-i where i was at the hospital about 90/wk but that was 4th year and cuz i was taking call with the residents. you need to study more efficient or something. even during step 1 i never came close to that amount of hours. crazy talk
 
elektroshok said:
dude. I, as well as many, have honored everything, crushed the steps, AOA, etc., and never came CLOSE to 100wks especially 1-3yrs. I had ONE vascular surgery sub-i where i was at the hospital about 90/wk but that was 4th year and cuz i was taking call with the residents. you need to study more efficient or something. even during step 1 i never came close to that amount of hours. crazy talk
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I don't know, some need to work harder to get the same end results. I'll keep working on efficiency, but if I don't improve then again, idk. You may also just be smarter/faster at learning things. That's a reality of life. Anyways, this is distracting from the true reason of this thread, and there is no need to discuss further.
 
elektroshok said:
dude. I, as well as many, have honored everything, crushed the steps, AOA, etc., and never came CLOSE to 100wks especially 1-3yrs. I had ONE vascular surgery sub-i where i was at the hospital about 90/wk but that was 4th year and cuz i was taking call with the residents. you need to study more efficient or something. even during step 1 i never came close to that amount of hours. crazy talk
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Tri723 said:
I don't know, some need to work harder to get the same end results. I'll keep working on efficiency, but if I don't improve then again, idk. You may also just be smarter/faster at learning things. That's a reality of life. Anyways, this is distracting from the true reason of this thread, and there is no need to discuss further.
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I think the only thing to remember is that different medical schools are different.
 
I would pick radiology again. I know people complain about the poor job market but if you work hard and are smart about your choices you won't have a problem. I did a total of 11 job interviews and turned down 7 others during my job search. I had 5 job offers to choose from. I'm very satisfied with the salary I got and the potential to double it once I become partner. I picked a private practice group that I believe can withstand the oncoming Obamacare changes longer than most. Hopefully long enough for me to make enough to retire and find something else to do.
 
Taurus said:
I would pick radiology again. I know people complain about the poor job market but if you work hard and are smart about your choices you won't have a problem. I did a total of 11 job interviews and turned down 7 others during my job search. I had 5 job offers to choose from. I'm very satisfied with the salary I got and the potential to double it once I become partner. I picked a private practice group that I believe can withstand the oncoming Obamacare changes longer than most. Hopefully long enough for me to make enough to retire and find something else to do.
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When did you finish residency/fellowship?
 
Baller MD said:
When did you finish residency/fellowship?
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Last year. Partnership track is 2 years long. 10 weeks of vacation now and 12 weeks as partner. I enjoy the work and the people I work with. Keep the faith folks. Radiology is an integral component of modern medicine. It's not going to disappear. It's changing like the rest of medicine but it's still a great gig.
 
Taurus said:
Last year. Partnership track is 2 years long. 10 weeks of vacation now and 12 weeks as partner. I enjoy the work and the people I work with. Keep the faith folks. Radiology is an integral component of modern medicine. It's not going to disappear. It's changing like the rest of medicine but it's still a great gig.
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What fellowship did you do?
 
Taurus said:
Last year. Partnership track is 2 years long. 10 weeks of vacation now and 12 weeks as partner. I enjoy the work and the people I work with. Keep the faith folks. Radiology is an integral component of modern medicine. It's not going to disappear. It's changing like the rest of medicine but it's still a great gig.
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What if they give you the boot before you make partnership? Where is your location (doesn't count if you're in the middle of nowhere).

And the fact that radiology won't disappear doesn't mean much because most fields are integral to modern medicine (except may primary care since NPs seem to be gaining more ground).
 
doapplicant2015 said:
For all the residents (or attending) that say they would not go to med school again, how many of you worked full time out of college before med school?

This seems to come up regularly here and having worked in the real world for 2 years now out of college I can't imagine medical school taking that much more time than a "career" job from the ages of 22-30 or so. Currently 50-60 hour weeks with 3-4 weeks/year out of town are the norm for me and I don't imagine med school being any less "fun" but maybe I am still a naive pre-med.
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Yes definitely.
 
I interviewed at and got job offers from small towns to some of the biggest and desirable cities in the country. Hospitalist or ED salaries pale in comparison to the salary I'm making now and will make as partner. Don't get discouraged and choose the easy way out. You couldn't pay me enough to see patients regularly.

The point is, there are jobs out there. Unfortunately, the naysayers squeak the loudest and make people think that there are no jobs out there. The contrarian thinkers will use this opportunity to get into better residency programs. Buy low, sell high.
 
Taurus said:
I interviewed at and got job offers from small towns to some of the biggest and desirable cities in the country. Hospitalist or ED salaries pale in comparison to the salary I'm making now and will make as partner. Don't get discouraged and choose the easy way out. You couldn't pay me enough to see patients regularly.

The point is, there are jobs out there. Unfortunately, the naysayers squeak the loudest and make people think that there are no jobs out there. The contrarian thinkers will use this opportunity to get into better residency programs. Buy low, sell high.
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literally I'll give up a nut before I'm in medicine. also I've been preaching the buy low sell high thing
 
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