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Yikes. I meant rad onc, not once.
I don't want to add more fuel to the fire. But, having grown up in a family of physicians and seeing many family friends who are cardiologists, I can definitely attest to some of the cards salaries that are being claimed. While, I don't know what the cap for ENT or ophtho is (although, I have heard the 300-350 range, unless you're doing cosmetics plastics), I do know that, literally, the sky's the limit for cards.
While you shouldn't be pursuing a specialty only for monetary gain, of course ( as we all know ), you can make a lot of money in cards, at least right now. I know at least a handful of private solo practice caridologists that are making 7 figures. Yes, they work thier asses off (70-80 hrs/wk), but they also love it. But, that's sort of the beauty of cards, if you want to live a more comfortable life, just do imaging/nuclear, see patients once/twice a week in clinic, and you can live a radiologist type of lifestyle, of course at the expense of making 7 figures. But, if you want to make a lot of money early in your career and love doing procedures and seeing patients, you can easily do that as well. The guys that are making this much absolutely love what they do, and I think that's the impt point to take home. We're all going to make enough money to live very comfortably, but you should really enjoy what you do. One of the things I've heard consistently over and over again from the IC's, is the amount of patient satisfaction/rewards they get. When you hear, "doc, thanks for saving my life", or "doc, you're right under God for me", it justifies the hard work.
I, too, was thinking about ENT and rads actually, but after doing a month of ENT, I realized that the lucrativity and lifestyle in ENT doesn't come from head and neck cancer surgeries, but from general ENT (scopes, tubes, thyroids, tonsils, etc.) and cosmetic palstics (which I am not interested in)...and while all these are important and can drastically improve patiets' lives, I was more interested in taking care of patients with more than elective problems. And, that's the problem, becuase it's the elctive cases that provide for the better lifestyle. I think ultimately, we all need some kind of validation in our lives, at least at some point in our career, otherwise we probably wouldn't be in medicine. And, it's that validation that keeps you going, IMHO. Money comes and goes, and we're all gonna make money, there has to be something bigger than money that will drive you to wake up each day or wake upa t 2AM to go and do that angioplasty. ANd, of course, rads doesn't provide for any of this directly (even IR, since they're never primary).
Also, ultiumately, we just rationalize why one specialty is better for us than another. ENT and ophtho, I'm sure, are great fields. But, for someone interested in cards, and knowing that it's a harder lifestyle relatively, we just rationalize it to ourselves why cards is better for us than another field, like I've done. None of us have enough exposure or experience in med school to really weigh out specialties in great detail, and you have to end up justifying it to yourself why you're doing one thing over another. That's the bottom line, I think. It's hard to predict what's gonna make you 30 years from now--pick something u like now, that has growth potential (i think cards and rads are huge in that aspect), there's a bigger reason other than money (patient satisfaction), and go for it. Medicine will be a majority of our lives, irrespective of what specialty we go into, but I also think,that family and home dyanmics and things outside of work really dictate how happy you are. IF you have a caring and supportive family, you'll be happy, I think, no matter what field you go into, if you enjoy it to some degree. Obviously, this is all IMHO.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Just my $0.02.
Hey sorry to dig this up but not only do I find myself torn between the same bizarre dichotomy of career choices (I'm a MSIV who is taking a year off) as the original OP of this article but I am also curious about some of the issues that were brought up by different people in the replies in the thread and wonder if things have changed since some of these things were written.
One of the most important things to me was the debate people had about whether it is possible to practice cardiology in such a way that you can work less while making less. I would be mostly interested in non-interventional cardiology or EP, as I understand its almost impossible to have decent hours as an interventionalist.
So I've heard and read different things. Some people say if you find a private practice with many partners and practice non-interventional cardiology then its possible. I've also heard that if you focus mainly on reading echos, stress tests, and maybe doing one or two days of clinic a week then it is also possible to have decently controllable work hours. I mean working 50-60 hours with only sporadic weekend/night call to me would be considered a decent work schedule. However I've also read that its hard to find private practices that would let especially junior members start out by working less and earning less. Some people have also written or told me that actually academic faculty have more manageable lifestyles given that they have more teaching responsibilities/ they don't have to stress about seeing a certain number of patients for business reasons.
I understand this is sort of an annoying topic for some cardiologists; I've been told that if you are thinking about lifestyle concerns then you shouldn't even think about doing cardiology: only do it if you love it. I mean I really enjoy the material of cardiology and I understand that doctors have to make sacrifices. However the stories I hear about cardiologists who never show up to their kids' games, who are divorced multiple times, and who basically have no life outside their practice makes it seem like it's such an unfair price to pay to be a cardiologist. I would appreciate any further input people have about this issue. I would especially love to hear input from private cardiologists.
Ophtho - though limited in scope is fairly deep in knowledge and they have their own gadgetry and language that nobody outside their specialty really understands. If you love everything about vitreous humor, rods and cones and conjunctivitis, then do optho.
chicks dig cardiologists, not pansy eye docs
I'm very curious to know which speciality you chose cuz rn im in the same dilemma... I doubt you still even use this account tho since it's 2024(almost 16 yrs later)Thanks guys for your help! I'm still a bit undecided, but I certainly appreciate your (humoring?) responses....I suppose SDN has a habit of painting the extremes (and usually the negative ones) as indicative of an entire field.
-Ice
P.S. Now watch, in like in 7 years I'll end up being a neonatologist...