Comments on: Picking a specialty – “what is the next hot field”

By: Zine

Zine — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:41:50 +0000

I was advised pick the speciality where you enjoy the routine work. I love my job (orthopaedic trainee).

By: Dr. Bob (FP)

Dr. Bob (FP) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:56:56 +0000

Hmm..
I think this income thing is bogus. There are no starving doctors out there. With climbing rates of obesity, diabetes, elderly, etc., there will be too much work for all of us anyway. I suppose radiology & pathology run the risk of being outsourced, but just about everyone else is pretty secure. If you're a good physician with a decent personality you will always have a job.
I recall reading in a financial magazine that happiness/satisfaction rises with income until about $70,000 per year, but after that more money doesn't make a signifcant difference. Even the lowest paid doc does better than that. There are a lot of crabby, unhappy specialists in the doctors lounge making $300k+.
Do what you enjoy, because then you're getting paid to do what you love to do and it feels like you're not even working.

By: Jennifer S.

Jennifer S. — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:30:11 +0000

I agree with your assessment of ROAD. To me, it seems that doctors who love what they do and most especially love their area of specialty (for no other reason than their genuine interest in it), tend to be better skilled and talented with that specialty and treating patients. In my experience, such doctors also tend to be more willing to continuously learn, especially with updates and new findings in their field. I am concerned that a potential doctor would treat medicine and helping people in the same way people treat fashion and clothes. I can't say I'm surprised because this might explain some of the inadequate treatment (and some downright incompetent treatment) from doctors that didn't seem to know much about their area of specialty.

By: amy

amy — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:08:50 +0000

Dear Anon, in a free market this is true but medicine is not a free market. Most patients don't come to you just because you are good, they come because you are "in network".

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:45:02 +0000

Everyone seems to forget one minor detail – if you're good at your job, you'll make a living. People's illnesses are not affected by the economy or the stock market. Learn your field well and you will make enough to thrive (even with large student loans). Other fields aren't always like that.

By: Michael Kirsch

Michael Kirsch — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:14:41 +0000

Of course, you are correct and I admire your idealism. Medical students today, however, are colliding with the hard realities of an uncertain future in our profession. I am certain that the health care reform legislation that nearly made it, would affect the career choices of many doctors-to-be. I wish I could say that a love for a medical specialty would be enough to sustain a satisfying career, but who can say?

By: PeterW

PeterW — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:37:58 +0000

It is quite possible however that there are a number of students who are ambivalent between several specialties. In that case it would make sense to predict the long-term trajectories of those specialties – something that matters a lot more for someone in his 20s than someone in his 60s.

By: Alex K

Alex K — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:25:26 +0000

“Medical education does not exist to provide students with a way of making a living, but to ensure the health of the community.”
Rudolph Virchow
I would add another "right reason" to your list: what the community needs. As a 4th year medical student, I have seen virtually all of my classmates choose their specialties for all the wrong reasons, with little attention paid to what we need as a society. All the idealism of 1st year is gone for most of them. I'm not sure how to get medical students to understand the quote above, but, for me, it's one of the major problems with medical education as I see it.