<p>Sigh... Golubb, you've got two direct sources, and they're a dermatologist and a psychiatrist.</p>
<p>golubb_u, afan is correct. I am even surprised that afan kept the sarcasm level so low. Your information is inaccurate on pretty much every point. Radiology is a field where you have little or no interraction with patients, and a lot of interaction with impatient physicians who need you to respond asap with a read. (Frankly, I'd prefer to work with patients than unhappy doctors.) You get sued anytime there is a missed diagnosis, since you are the one who read the film, regardless of whether you read it correctly or not. Your insurance will be anywhere from $45,000 annually if claim free, up to $100,000 or more a year if you have claims (and you will). Few will want to let you have a job for 2 days a week. And if you are able to find one, you will get paid accordingly. Plus your malpractice costs never go below a certain minimum level, regardless of how few hours you work. I won't even start to address the other issues, since afan already did that. </p>
<p>Physicians who make the really big money come in three classes: heart specialists and others of their ilk (neurologists, etc.) who can command their own premium; bariatrics and plastic surgeons; and doctors who are close to retirement who, as afan correctly points out, made a lot of money in the years before managed care. If you want to be in medicine for the money, go into podiatry - few claims, not life-threatening, and comparatively stress-free. </p>
<p>If you really want to make money, become a plumber or an unscrupulous politician.</p>
<p>Dermatology is another field that is lifestyle-friendly and comparatively high-paying ($250k+ for as few as 30 hours per week). The big downside is that derm residencies are extremely competitive to get into.</p>
<p>"In fact you work not only for the head of radiology, but also for every single physician who refers patients"</p>
<p>....btw you're talking about working WITH those doctors, not FOR them. As for the head of radiology, that's only the case if you don't have you'r own practice. Many, many doctors have their own practices.
Have you heard any other decent paying profession with that level of autonomy?</p>
<p>No, you're working <em>for</em> the doctors. They are your clients, and the whole thing about "the client is always right"... that's true, too.</p>
<p>Not to mention, as a radiologist, though you have little patient interaction, the hours can be absolutely ungodly. My dad, a nuclear medicine doctor, has to wake up at all hours of the day and night when on call in order to run studies (and he's a partner with Dallas Radiologists and an assoc. professor of radiology at Southwestern... so it's not like he's still got to "prove himself" or "earn his keep" before he can retire). Practices in radiology are also very different, especially if you work at a hospital. Generally, there are only a couple of practices in a large city, and they get together in order to discuss tricky cases that they've run across, and it's primarily to deal with accounting issues and legal issues. Other than that, they don't really have "their own practices".</p>
<p>One thing Hayden forgot to mention is HMOs. You work for the HMOs. You have to answer to the HMOs. If the HMOs say you're not going to get paid for this study, you're not going to get paid for this study. The days of medical autonomy are gone, golubb, and salaries are going down.</p>
<p>Have you considered engineering...? ;)</p>
<p>
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Many, many doctors have their own practices.
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</p>
<p>Not anymore, and certainly not in radiology. If you can afford to go out and hang up your own shingle in radiology, you don't need a job. The startup costs would run over $10M.</p>
<p>You do work FOR your referring doctors. They are your business. They stop sending you cases and you are out of business.</p>
<p>I know of no hospitals that would give one second's thought to the possiblity of offering a physician a pension for 20 years service. Very few doctors have pensions at all. Nearly all have defined contribution retirement plans, and these have nothing to do with any magic 20 year figure.</p>
<p>Your retirement plan comes out of your income. So you increase your retirement funds by reducing your current income. Exactly the same for beneifts and time off. </p>
<p>You can move to where there is a job- just like anyone else. Some places there is high demand, others there is not.</p>
<p>As for taking time off whenever you want to with "your partner" doing the work, please send me this partner who will put up with a colleague behaving like this. I could use someone like that in my radiology practice.</p>
<p>"Nearly all have defined contribution retirement plans, and these have nothing to do with any magic 20 year figure."</p>
<p>" please send me this partner who will put up with a colleague behaving like this"</p>
<p>The 20 year figure is what I got from a psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente. As for the partner that will cover for you on vacation, how hard is it to find a coworker that gets along with you? Out of 5, I'm sure you can find at least 1 or 2....you're exaggerating if you say that it's overwhelmingly impossible....I'm sure every doctor is in a similar situation...quid pro quo is not an impossible scenario.</p>
<p>Anyways afan, I don't mean to contradict everything you say, since you obviously have more knowledge than I do. I just hate it when it sounds as if people are trying to prevent others from going into a lucrative field....for god knows what reasons (self-interest?). Just looking up the national averages, radiologists get paid $300,000. The lowest doctors get paid $150,000.....that's the downright best paying field out there. </p>
<p>Also, if you hire someone to do the paperwork (which is the worst part about the job), then you've got a sweet deal.</p>
<p>golubb, for your own sake, I hope you don't go into the medical field strictly because of money. as my mother is an M.D., t's a common maxim I've heard that if you go into med school for the money, you won't make it. Period.</p>
<p>Actually, radiology has become one of the more dynamic specialties as technology has created alternatives to some of the more risky surgical procedures. Vascular invasive radiology is a very exciting field that combines sophisticated imaging (brush up on your physics) with a broad range of intravascular treatments for conditions from neoplasm to stroke. Radiologists who do VIR treat patients directly.</p>
<p>Radiology also has become one of the most competitive residencies. The better programs have their pick of the top graduates from the best medical schools. </p>
<p>Regardless of the money, which is more than adequate, the opportunities to explore and develop better methods for diagnosis and treatment are unlimited in this field.</p>
<p>" t's a common maxim I've heard that if you go into med school for the money, you won't make it. Period."</p>
<p>I'm sure people do it....passing mcats is no problem, and USMLE is easier....it has a 90% pass rate! So, I'm definitely going in....in addition to making money, I'll have tons of job satisfaction.</p>
<p>Trust me, it's great money, great job security......you can't have it better, period :) Foget the stupid maxims.....who cares what people say?? If you want to get into the medical field for whatever reason, you should do it and not care what other people's "maxims" say....a lot of times it's said just to keep others out of applying to a cushy job.</p>
<p>Radiology is one of the most outsourced fields in medicine, mostly to India and such places</p>
<p>I agree, my dad is a cosmetic dentist, and the money is still there, but with doctors, I have some neighbors, they aren't doing that welllll.</p>
<p>
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Radiology is one of the most outsourced fields in medicine, mostly to India and such places
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</p>
<p>The reason radiology is being outsourced is because of the severe shortage of radiologists in the US, and the rising need for patient diagnostics. So some hospitals use "nighthawks" or radiologists from elsewhere to do some work while their main radiologists gets some rest.</p>
<p>I've read similar things about other engineering fields. The reason they are hiring people from other nations is because the demand is so high but the number of qualified Americans doesn't meet it. Ergo, if you are qualified then you will definitely have a job. People seem to think that hiring Indians is a sign that your job is not secure, when in fact in this case it shows that there's high demand.</p>
<p>uh. </p>
<p>Isn't it because they work for lower wages?</p>
<p>If demand was high, wages in America would go up, and more students would go into engineering. Instead, I think the wage offered in America is low, because thanks to international competition companies can get the same labor (or almost the same labor) at a lower wage. i.e Globalization, which is such a sweet buzzword</p>
<p>Wages in America for engineers is <em>not</em> bad. People with bachelors degrees usually start out with at least $45k. It's about 10 grand more if you go to one of the top schools.</p>
<p>i understand all of the ethics concerned with being a doctor...but
whoever said that "many" people drop out of med school is wrong. I would say that "many", or "most" drop out during pre-med.
In Fact, over 95% of med school students receive their M.D.'s. I agree with Golubb, once you're in med school, i'm afraid its just about a
guar-an-tee you'll become some kind of doctor.</p>
<p>^ If you're only interested in money, though, merely graduating from med school is not enough. Getting matched with a residency/fellowship in a high-paying specialty (such as ortho, radiology, derm) is extremely competitive. Sure, getting to med school pretty much guarantees an MD. But many doctors (general practitioners, pediatricians, internists, etc.) make less then $200k per year. You still have to work hard and remain competitive to get into a rewarding specialty.</p>
<p>You know I am so glad that we have all you poster who reply to his post that are working without pay I would love to own a business and hire all of these posters here for their free labor. I’m also certain that all of you would refuse a raise if it were offered and if you were offered two jobs you would take the lower paying one. I wish we could all be as virtuous as you are.</p>