Is a career in medicine really worth it?

Pre-Med & Medical School Careers in Medicine
161

<p>look bottom line, this thread is about the wrong topic. $ Should never be why u go into medicine. You cant be thinking about ur paycheck when sum1s life is in your hands. </p>

<p>But for those who only see $$ signs, if you are a good doctor, you'll make $, if you work hard as a doctor youll make $. If you are just with sum doc in a box practice and you have no real specialty, then yea you are gonna be hurting and insurance is gonna kick ur ass. </p>

<p>But same goes for any1 with an MBA, just because you have an MBA doesnt mean you are gonna make big bucks, its about what you do with ur MD/MBA that counts.</p>

162

<p>So to recap</p>

<p>Business = unstable/ potential for great wealth</p>

<p>Medicine = fairly stable/ potential for comfortable living/ and most importantly, if you aren't in it to help others, you'll never make it through the grueling training (4 years college, 4 years med school, 4 years residency)</p>

<p>a desire for money can only carry you so far along that path</p>

<p>And let's be honest, money will do you no good when you're up in the middle of the night during residency. It's a nice secondary reason to be in medicine but it won't do as a primary!</p>

163

<p>u can have potential for great wealth as a doctor, my cousins is a vasc. surgeon at mt sinai in NY, the hospital picks up his insurance and he brings up a 500,000 each year for 5 years</p>

164

<p>Okay...that's true...there's always the potential to strike it rich no matter what field you're in</p>

<p>I'd say most doctors shouldn't expect to pull that kind of salary in though</p>

165

<p>and most MBAs shouldnt either.</p>

166

<p>"Not true. The MBAs who are running the insurance companies determine reimbursement levels (almost all doctors performing non elective procedures depend on insurance reimbursement) and insurance procedure denials are legendary."</p>

<p>Yes, but you don't DEAL-WITH the mba's except over the phone...engineers DEAL-WITH mbas in head-to-head meetings all day long. Doctor's just phone into the insurance company and get paid...occaisionally they may ask for a supervisor , who may happen to be an MBA....that's hardly "dealing with" mbas, marketing, sales etc.</p>

<p>"Do "Joe-Blow" engineers do an additional 7-10 years of school & residency beyond undergrad?"
The joe-blow engineer goes through rigorous 7-10 years of politics....who's got it worse?</p>

167

<p>I have not read all of the posts but I will add my 2 cents.</p>

<p>If you are a high school student, or even a college student, avoid taking a snapshot of medical practice in 2005-6 and think this is how you will practice medicine and this is the amount that you will be paid. Medical education is a very long process with college, med school, and residency. What year will you actually end up in practice? When you look at the year, I assure you that healthcare will undergo some drastic changes by necessity. I can't tell you all of the changes, and who is elected the next President may have a major role in the direction that healthcare is headed. However, with certainty healthcare will become even more of a highly regulated field out of necessity. What does this mean? Of course this means control over what you will be paid, but also HOW you will be forced to practice medicine. Go into medicine because this is what you enjoy. Good luck to all.</p>

168

<p>i'm not really sure why you guys are saying majority of doctors arent rich..maybe its because i'm from a suburban white middle class family but i certainly consider the 200,000k+ salaries on those salary surveys to be "rich", the average for one specialty was like 400k...thats mucho dinero...and no matter how political things get..doctors will always be highly respected by a majority of people despite all the constant grumbling the people make...so no matter who are leader is..i belive the salaries of doctors will still be what they are today--- the pay they deserve :-D</p>

169

<p>just bookmarking</p>

170

<p>Amen Adam....amen....</p>

171

<p>I've read articles that said physician salaries are increasing from year to year. Do you expect physicians to be as well paid as they are now 10 years from now?</p>

172

<p>ok, so you are all discussing between MDs and MBAs. Medicine has all the prestige, etc... but it comes down to whether you want to spend your life fulfilling your duty of helping those in need. Being a business executive is very lucrative and have great potential to "make it big", but very risky if you are mainly concern about salary (not everyone is in business base on busines... some people base it on the industry).
So how about getting a pharmD and MBA? I mean, that's right in the middle of where you guys are talking about of two different professions.
Starting salary is in the six figure range ($120K) if you care about the money=> potential to "make it big" (move up the food chain) but the job is very flexible if you decide to work at a local pharamcay with flexible hours along with good pay ($90K in Caliornia) as well as being very fulfilling (just like MDs).</p>

173

<p>As far as salaries staying where they are, go ask your local doctor, in particular a surgeon. Ask them how much less insurance companies want to pay them and how they are getting screwed on malp. The thing is docs are trying to get more money which they deserve, and insurance companies think otherwise. One doctor I have spoken with spent months treating a patient. The insurance company paid him only 40% of what he was due. The rest they refused and he could do little to get it. Thats the reality today, insurance companies say they will pay so much and they dont.</p>

174

<p>Exactly, many people make the mistake of looking at medicine today (or even in the past few years) and basing their career decision on what they see. The truth of the matter is that medicine will continue to become a highly regulated field out of necessity. This nation cannot afford healthcare the way it is practiced. The only way to control cost is with regulation. After 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and likely at least 4 years of residency, we are looking at starting practice in the year 2018 for a current high school senior. I assure you, the way medicine will be practiced in 2018 will be very different from today.</p>

175

<p>I am working towards going into a surgery sub-specialty and am getting mixed signals. I searched the internet and found this information:</p>

<p>General Surgery --------------------- $261,276<br>
Cardiovascular Surgery -------------- $558,719
Colon/Rectal Surgery ---------------- $291,199
Neuro Surgery ---------------------- $438,426
Oral & Maxillofacial ------------------ $208,340
Orthopedic Surgery ----------------- $357,224
Plastic Surgery --------------------- $306,047
Urology ---------------------------- $285,356
Vascular Surgery ------------------- $359,339</p>

<p><a href="http://www.physicianssearch.com/physician/salary2.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.physicianssearch.com/physician/salary2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>What i get from this discussion is that physicians arnt making enough to live comfortable lives. The term comfortable is relative, but to me it means nice cars, nice large suburban home, and not living paycheck to paycheck. These reported salaries seem to cut it. </p>

<p>I agree with the people posting on how medicine should never be about money, and that making this your main focus could put peoples lives in jeopordy. Having said this, money will always play a role...hopefully not a main role though.</p>

176

<p>Your forgetting taxes, office expenses, travel, and malpractice insurance. Those stats usually don't show all that stuff being taken away.</p>

177

<p>Agree with above, as there are many different ways to report physician compensation, The most often cited numbers are from Medical Economics. If you look at this site, <a href="http://www.memag.com/memag/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=118185%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.memag.com/memag/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=118185&lt;/a>, there is a big difference between before and after all expenses associated with being a physician. </p>

<p>People often hear of physician salaries and are blown away with how high they are, but this is typically their gross income. In addition, some headhunter groups list huge salaries, as often their data is based on incomes for Heads of Departments at large hospitals or academic centers that pay far more than the average working clinical physician.</p>

178

<p>It almost seems like you guys are trying to keep potentially good doctors out of the medical path..</p>

<p>If someone decides to become a doctor, can pull the high GPA/high MCAT/good ECs/good interview, get into medical school, do well/graduate medical school, perfrom well in their residency showing that they are profecient for thier upcoming JOB, then do thier JOB well and in turn help people- "what the problem is" if they have money/salary as thier underlying motivator? If they can make it through the grueling process and still perform well I dont see anything wrong.</p>

<p>You guys cant honestly deny that money isnt the top motivator for work. Yes, other things come first (family, health, loved ones, friends, enjoyment, interests, etc), but money directly and/or indirectly affects all of that. It affects everything.</p>

<p>I, for one, have the medical path as one of the options I'm considering (along with pharmacy, engineering and finance) because 1. I have a genuine desire to make a considerable amount of money and 2. I have a genuine desire to help people (deaf/hearing-impaired people in particular. I was thinking about Otolaryngology, or something on the tech side as in biomedical/biochem/chem engineering for developing new hearing realted technology/etc).</p>

<p>But if someone is only in it for the money, and can perform well enough to the point where they finally start practicing and actually helping people, why not let them? Posting all these negative remarks (dont go into medince for money, do something else, etc) is just that, negative. In a ROI outlook with minimal risk, the medical path is one of the best options. </p>

<p>Point = As long as the 'GreeDocs' do thier jobs well and help people, who cares if their personal motivation is the Aston Martin sitting in their driveway.</p>

179

<p>There is a reason. Most people quit the path when they hear about the grades, and all the aspects residency. There is a reason not to go in for money. Ask any doctor if you could go in for only money. It just is not possible. The hours will make you go insane. Job satisfaction in medicine goes down extremely quickly and the vast majority of doctors will tell you not to go into medicine, and or they would not do it again either. If you have a hint of wanting to help people, and a true love of medicine you will be fine. If you think of it as a job to make money, you are in for a long life filled with many years of hurt and pondering. If you just want money you will not survive a career in medicine nowadays.</p>

180

<p>If you're going into medicine ONLY for the money, you will be very frustrated. If you go into medicine because you love it, want to help people AND have a comfortable lifestyle and be a well respected professional, you should be satisfied.
Bottom line: It's not an easy way to make a living.</p>