Guide to choosing a residency

[5th time the charm]

Rads billing fees for clinics often include technical fees - they have to buy and maintain their machines and pay stuff to run them. There is of course a lot of overhead associated with that

 

really justify the high billing rates for many of these specialties while the lesser paid specialties have gone through atleast the same or more post-grad training but maybe if they are lucky, bill about 1/2 to 1/3 of those who are billing 500K plus.

 

We all have overhead costs. In a time-based practice you can't double-triple book patients and have procedural fees to increase your rate per hour. And given the high no show rate you neither can bill for or bill the patient (who most likely could be on a fixed income or disability pension so why would you do that anyway)

 

I think these are important conversations to have but I think people need to be realistic too. If chasing the mighty dollar is so important to an individual, maybe looking outside medicine altogether may be where the money really is to be made.

[fugacity]

Oh yeah, engineers for sure :)

 

But power engineering is a bit of a misnomer. It's a two-year tech certificate with some basic certification exams and on-the-job training... Pretty easy and appealing route if you like physics! Basically, they operate industrial plants and stuff like that, so it can be a cushy job.

 

And that gets you $130k per year after tax? I am a little suspicious since this is not what I hear from petroleum engineers (4 years intense undergraduate training) in Alberta.

[goleafsgochris]

And that gets you $130k per year after tax? I am a little suspicious since this is not what I hear from petroleum engineers (4 years intense undergraduate training) in Alberta.

 

Yeah I know a lot of engineers. Here are the real numbers: 60k 1st year out of Uni, 82k after 10 years is average in Ontario. 90th percentile after 10 years is 108k.

 

Alberta is likely more, but 130k after tax? You sound like every blue collar auto worker who thinks every doc and lawyer makes 2 mil a year lol what a joke

[Oenak138]

I thought the original OP started this thread as a joke. "Hotness Factor?" "Money Factor?" I assumed this was posted to get a chuckle out of people, but 6 pages later this is still apparently a serious thread.

 

Furthermore, people are speaking to one another with an incredible amount of disrespect. Would you speak to one another this same way if you were sitting in a boardroom together?

[Wachaa]

A take home salary for a family physician is closer to 100k. True, not many people take home $100k+ per year. But that's only part of the picture since it doesn't take into account the actual hourly rate. You're working twice as many hours, so you are getting paid twice as much. A family physician who takes home $100K working long hrs (clinical + administrative + business management) has a much WORSE lifestyle, in most non-workaholics' opinions, than someone who takes home $50k in half as many hours per week, AND gets 4-6 weeks of vacation paid for, which you didn't get.

 

There are many professionals (counting jobs requiring a post-secondary degree) out there taking home $50k. Taking what goleafsgochris said, an engineer will earn 60k 1st year out of university. That would be ~$49k take home.

 

Furthermore, there are benefits that family physicians don't have: 4-6 weeks of paid vacation, paid time off, health/ drug plans, disability/WCB benefits, retirement plans, just to name a few, that can add $10k+ to someone's salary.

[ratatat]

Oh yeah, engineers for sure :)

 

But power engineering is a bit of a misnomer. It's a two-year tech certificate with some basic certification exams and on-the-job training... Pretty easy and appealing route if you like physics! Basically, they operate industrial plants and stuff like that, so it can be a cushy job.

 

Okay. I'm going to move to Alberta.

[ratatat]

Oh all of a sudden you mannered up? You a good boy now, polite n ****.

 

Your interpersonal skills and attitude suck, buddy. Hope it is just an online persona because if it is not..you should not be pursuing any medical subspecialty that involves patient contact.

 

A rad can make anywhere above 600 gross before expenses like malpractice insurance, conference leave, PACS.. 500ish pre-tax.

 

So if it's 500K pre-tax, how did you get 500K take home before?

[Orcamute]

So well below that 5x $130K take home figure then?

 

 

[thebouque]

hahaha someone has too much free time

[medaholic]

Back to the original thread....

 

I don't really buy this whole hotness, money, ease, intellectual stuff because I think each person weighs these factors differently.

 

I think a more realistic way of choosing a specialty is

 

1) Deciding between surgical (Gen Surg, Ortho, etc) vs medical (FM, IM, EM, Peds, Psych) vs supportive (Anesthesia, rads, path)

 

2) Deciding on which patients you like seeing (kids, adults, women, variety, no patients)

 

3) Eliminate all specialties you can't stand

 

4) Find a specialty where you can enjoy the day to day grind.

 

I think money, hotness, lifestyle are modifiable things that you can do afterward. I've seen psychiatrists bill more than surgeons, and family doctors who are really smart. These things can change depending on how you practice.

[mavrik13]

Back to the original thread....

 

I don't really buy this whole hotness, money, ease, intellectual stuff because I think each person weighs these factors differently.

 

I think a more realistic way of choosing a specialty is

 

1) Deciding between surgical (Gen Surg, Ortho, etc) vs medical (FM, IM, EM, Peds, Psych) vs supportive (Anesthesia, rads, path)

 

2) Deciding on which patients you like seeing (kids, adults, women, variety, no patients)

 

3) Eliminate all specialties you can't stand

 

4) Find a specialty where you can enjoy the day to day grind.

 

I think money, hotness, lifestyle are modifiable things that you can do afterward. I've seen psychiatrists bill more than surgeons, and family doctors who are really smart. These things can change depending on how you practice.

 

Completely agree with your process. You have to enjoy the day-to-day work that a specialty does. That is more or less how I'm approaching planning my 4th year electives and eventual CaRMS application.

[Dongzhuo]

Completely agree with your process. You have to enjoy the day-to-day work that a specialty does. That is more or less how I'm approaching planning my 4th year electives and eventual CaRMS application.

 

Unfortunately by now if you haven't started gunning for the competitive specialties it will be a very hard battle to get into something like ophtho. The whole idea of having a ranking is to get folks to realize what the gems are early on.

 

I also find the decision algorithm good in theory but lacking in practicality. I dont think I like most surgical specialties but I may be interested in ENT and Ophtho. Rads is "supportive" but what does that mean? You could do interventional and be the main show. You don't like th pparticularly like seeing the daily grind of seeing pimples and actinic keratoses everyday, but love love the lifestyle and cashflow. How to make the decision then?

[burrb]

I also find the decision algorithm good in theory but lacking in practicality. I dont think I like most surgical specialties but I may be interested in ENT and Ophtho. Rads is "supportive" but what does that mean? You could do interventional and be the main show. You don't like th pparticularly like seeing the daily grind of seeing pimples and actinic keratoses everyday, but love love the lifestyle and cashflow. How to make the decision then?

Weren't you the guy who became disenchanted with family medicine?

 

The whole point of choosing the best specialty for oneself is taking into consideration a multitude of factors: Interest in the field, lifestyle, money, prestige and on and on. If prestige, money and lifestyle matter the most to you, Dongzhou, you should have recognized this about yourself and picked your specialty accordingly. However, going into medicine/being in medicine with this kind of attitude is walking a dangerous line of never being satisfied and forever being a grumpy, unhappy, green-eyed guy.

[Dongzhuo]

Weren't you the guy who became disenchanted with family medicine?

 

The whole point of choosing the best specialty for oneself is taking into consideration a multitude of factors: Interest in the field, lifestyle, money, prestige and on and on. If prestige, money and lifestyle matter the most to you, Dongzhou, you should have recognized this about yourself and picked your specialty accordingly. However, going into medicine/being in medicine with this kind of attitude is walking a dangerous line of never being satisfied and forever being a grumpy, unhappy, green-eyed guy.

 

I was unhappy in family medicine, but after getting into emerg, I feel happy. Namely, emerg has good hotness factor, pretty good ease/ lifestyle, good money, and decent smarts. I traded in some lifestyle for significant gains in the rest. I improved my position and am much more satisfied.

[Satsuma]

Completely agree with your process. You have to enjoy the day-to-day work that a specialty does. That is more or less how I'm approaching planning my 4th year electives and eventual CaRMS application.

 

This is really important for people to understand when they are picking their specialty. You have to actually like the bread and butter of the specialty.

 

If you choose a specialty by heavily weighting factors other than liking the specialty you are in for an unhappy career. Things like lifestyle and pay are good to help choose between 2 specialties you would otherwise enjoy. So if you like A and B but B gives you all weekends off and minimal call and that is more important to you than the extra 50k a year A would give you then choose B. But if you really like C but choose either A or B for money and lifestyle, you will be sorry.

 

A career in medicine requires alot of sacrifices to your personal life. I always laugh when I read newspaper articles etc that try and say MDs deserve what they perceive as alot of pay for these sacrifices. I think MDs deserve pay based on skill and training and responsibility. There is no amount of financial compensation that can make up for missed weddings, missed birthdays, missed holidays, not being present for a whole bunch of important things the lives of your kids, spouse, friends etc. So don't factor pay too too heavily. You will be less resentful if you are giving up these things for something that you enjoy rather than for something that gives you a big paycheque.

[Orcamute]

> Lifestyle

>> Enjoyment

>>> Money

 

If your priorities ain't in that order, dawg you ain't in the right order.