Medical Specialty Outlook: What does the future hold?
Posted on January 25, 2007
Filed Under News, Medical Students, Premedical Students, Finance
Given the current and expected physician shortage in the United States, any newly minted doctor will have no problems finding a job. “Doctors coming out of school are no different than a Heisman Trophy winners,” said Kurt Mosley, VP of business development at Merritt, Hawkins & Associates, a nationwide physician recruitment and staffing firm. “They are wooed and wooed. There’s no such thing as an unemployed physician.”
That’s the good news. And even better news is that, depending on what specialty you choose, you can expect a plethora of job offers and highly lucrative deals that include six-digit salaries, bonuses and vacation packages.
So which medical specialties are “hot?” In the past couple of years cardiologists have been most in demand, commanding annual salaries ranging roughly from $230,000 to $520,000. Other high-income specialties include ophthalmology, anesthesiology, dermatology, and plastic surgery.
And the “hot“ specialties are expected to keep sizzling well into the future decades. As the population grows older and the risk of age-related conditions rises, there will be an increased demand for specialists to treat these diseases. For example, experts say the baby boomers may be the most vulnerable generation ever to heart disease, hence the need for cardiologists. And according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the demand for cataract surgery within that age group is expected to increase by 47 percent, and the need for general ophthalmic surgery is predicted to rise by 88 percent.
Plastic surgery is another cutting edge specialty that will cater to affluent baby boomers, ready to pay out of the pocket for rejuvenating but costly nips and tucks. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported that in 2004 more than 8.7 million Americans spent $9.4 billion on elective cosmetic procedures that required cash up front. The trend is expected to continue, helping plastic surgeons to rake in an average of $320,000 a year.
Another area where demand for specialists is steadily growing is hospice and palliative medicine. With longer life expectancies and millions more of baby boomers boosting the ranks of the general population every year, “this is an area that is very important to all of the specialties involved,” said Stephen H. Miller, president and CEO of the American Board of Medical Specialties.
Starting in 2008 the Board will certify 10 specialties – family medicine, internal medicine, gynecology, pediatrics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, anesthesiology, psychiatry, neurology, radiology and surgery – to care for patients with chronic or terminal diseases.
“Each of the co-sponsoring boards recognizes the growing importance of this area of medicine,” said James C. Puffer, MD, president and CEO of the American Board of Family Medicine.
Just as some specialties gain in popularity, lower paying, time demanding, on-call fields such as family medicine, internal medicine and general surgery are shunned. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, osteopathic family practice residency programs fill just over half of their open positions. And general surgery experiences a painful cut in its ranks as well, as “students are more interested in being with their family and having free time,” said Susan Brundage, MD, who conducted a study on the career choices of University of Texas-Houston medical students, and subsequently published the findings in the Journal of Surgical Research. “If they can work in a less-demanding specialty to economically support the lifestyle they want, maybe the attractiveness of surgery doesn’t compensate for the lost time and money.”
So how do med students decide what specialties to pursue amid the myriad of fields available to them? It is a toss-up between the quality of life and financial obligations. On one hand, high-income specialties will help offset undergraduate and medical schools loans, amounting, on average, to a hefty $120,000 per student.
On the other hand, “lifestyle issues have been significant in the choice of specialty,” says David Kennedy, Vice Dean for Professional Services of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “It’s a big reason more medical students choose specialties that offer high salaries and normal work hours.”
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22 Responses to “Medical Specialty Outlook: What does the future hold?”
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This an awesome article that helped me alot for my future plan as i’m a final med student in Egypt…. Thnax
It is disappointing that the FP and IM docs are so undervalued.
I think it’s a huge problem that PCPs/IM/FP are so undervalued… From a public health standpoint they are probably the most important yet they essentially have to know the most, work the hardest and longest hours, get paid the least, and get the least respect/recognition.
I disagee with this article, today primary care field options are opening up allowing one to take a position as a hospitalist, 1 week on 1 week off, and start at salaries upward around $180,000, that’s about 6 months of work. General medicine is awesome, 3 years of residency and you start with a nice salary working half the year. I DO NOT SEE THE DOWNFALL. Specializing is great, but I think if you like general medicine, and you are good at it you will be in high demand. GOOD INTERNISTS ARE HARD TO FIND THESE DAYS, AND YOU WILL BE NOTICED!
No matter what the demands are and the salary is it is ultimately the satisfaction of doing what you want.
“So how do med students decide what specialties to pursue amid the myriad of fields available to them? It is a toss-up between the quality of life and financial obligations.”
These issues do play a role in the decision-making process, but I don’t know anyone who has chosen a specialty ONLY for these reasons. All of us care very much about whether we’ll enjoy actually doing the job every day for the next few decades.
This is one great article really, but the thing thats missed here is that what makes anyone choose to enter a medical school? i see its because of their love to practice medicine, i mean its not a lifestyle or salary kinda thing…u can get that easily in other majors without wasting 7 years studing medicine. That’s why when u specialize u’ll choose something u like too, just like u chose medical studies at first.
How can you have “a love to practice medicine” when you’ve never practiced medicine before? Anyway, there are many considerations one must make when considering to pursue a career, and a desire to pratice medicine is just one of them.
Ecxelent article. Very true that we need more doctors in public health because there is more demand, in this case to take care patients with cronic and terminal diseases. Also this aricle helped me for my future plans, im pre-med in Puerto Rico
i think this article is a great article and it has giving me top specialties in the U.S which i am going to consider for my future… good luck to you all…
Wow! Internal medicine docs are getting paid to work half the year (week-on/week-off) as hospitalists? I’ve never heard of that? Do you mind me asking how you know this or in what part of the country offers like this are sprouting up?
this article blows!
cool
I Want to be a Cardiologist yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh mariiaaaaaaaa morenooooooooooooo was here :]
is medicine really about the money? because then I am going into the wrong field…
this makes me sick.
oh yes baby, its all about the money
No, its what you make of it.
Medicine is obviously not “about” only one thing. I personally first asked myself where i could be happy working, then i considered if there was a point to my efforts, lastly i considered what field would best financially compensate my efforts.
To be fair, no doctor i work with has mentioned an inspirational story from their childhood of healing injured animals or siblings as catalyst for their interest in medicine. Interest often comes from proximal illness or financial attractiveness, not to mention a healthy dose of megalomania. In spite of the common failings of some aspiring medical students, they are still human, and almost always become more tolerable to be around after graduation;)
Like the awkwardness of when you first attended public school, med-school is no different. You will learn to play the games as you go. If you ask relevant questions and have the ability to retain key points of information, coupled with personality traits which include commitment and diligence, med-school will not be daunting in the least. In fact the days i recall most fondly are ones when i was being constantly challenged, and was filled with an undercurrent of excitement about my future.
Life as a doctor of any specialty can be quite alien. Often one finds oneself put on a pedestal, at times far from the familiar social setting they are reared with. Your cohort is predetermined and at times unwelcome. Such a small selection gives way to the inevitability of conflict and, for some, eventual cynicism.
Much like other life pursuits, time will be the chief measure of your own satisfaction with medicine as a career. The unique posturing medicine will offer you is the ability to feel good about your impact on the world, even if your actual work is incongruent with your preference.
Give yourself some breathing room, meditate, sleep in on sunday, drink a latte or whatever makes you happy, because at the end of the day no one enjoys the company of a grumpy cliche.
Best wishes, and no worries. Life is short.
Dr. K
i think it’s difficult to choose because by the time you graduate, lots of time invested already, need more time to study again to specialize and less time for you to live life. no time!
Clear sunny skies in the forecast?
Not so much when you consider the proposed 10% cut on Medicare reimbursement (who knows what congress will do next), an increasingly bureaucratic work environment (thank you very much HMOs, you sons of bitches), and the ever looming threat of malpractice lawsuits.
I
im a plastics reg and its all about the $$$$$ baby
Its not just about the money it is about doing somthing you want to do and what makes you fell good inside.