Radiology Salary and Jobs Question

[goldfishhy]

Hi Everyone! I am seriously considering radiology for CARMS, but since it's something that we don't get much exposure to in our curriculum, could someone expand on the job options and salaries of them in Ontario? I know the job market can change depending on when you graduate residency (or even if you are lucky to match into lol). 

For example, one job prospect available after graduation is clinical radiology work that makes half the salary of a regular radiologist, but what does that mean? Also, how available are these clinical radiology jobs? What options are available after graduation if you can't get academic work? Is it only heavy community jobs? 

Thanks in advance!

[1D7]

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Hi Everyone! I am seriously considering radiology for CARMS, but since it's something that we don't get much exposure to in our curriculum, could someone expand on the job options and salaries of them in Ontario?

Pay:

1. Academics: You bill 450-600k on average.

2. Community: About 20-35% more cases, so about 20-35% more billings.

There are some outliers in either direction.

Overhead will depend on if you are paying out to run outpatient imaging clinics. It's variable.

The billing structure for diagnostic radiology is pretty simple, so mostly if you're earning more it means you're working more.

Hours:

Highly variable depending on your job. You could be working in a clinic 8am-5pm without call. Or you could be doing tumour board from 7am-8am, reading cases from 8am-5pm, going home and turning on your home workstation to read more cases from 7pm-10pm. The latter situation is becoming more common, at least in academics.

Workload:

There's a lot of work out there, an advantage (kind of). Not so for other specialists who may be limited by OR time, bed availability, or even just waiting for patients to come in. There has been a drastic increase in demand for radiologists & imaging, so there is always some work out there for you to do. You could use your vacation to go do work somewhere else to boost your earnings.

On the flip side because there is more work, radiology has become generally busy. Some people think radiology has had some magical increase in efficiency leading to easier cases, not so. Most improvements make imaging more complex to interpret, not less. Because we can see more and have a greater impact in patient care, the demand for imaging has increased and will probably keep increasing. Also modern training in (most) other specialties emphasizes obtaining imaging to rule out differentials. Possible unwitnessed fall? X-ray & CT. Vague chest pain and a fast heart rate? CTA. Etc. The one lifestyle perk is that you can do some of the work remotely, unless you are IR/NIR.

To give a general comparison, as an academic rad you will (probably) be working more hours than an academic internist. You'll both be at home collecting a paycheque from whatever the residents do overnight, but in radiology you'll probably be reading/signing off some cases at home on call. There's also usually a bunch of random tumour/multi-D boards that start at 7am or so because the surgeons need to run to the OR by 8am.

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For example, one job prospect available after graduation is clinical radiology work that makes half the salary of a regular radiologist, but what does that mean? Also, how available are these clinical radiology jobs?

Radiology work is clinical work. Not really sure what you mean by this.

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What options are available after graduation if you can't get academic work? Is it only heavy community jobs?

By definition if it's not academic work, it is community work. If you can't find a stable job right away you can do locums (like any other specialty). The job situation in ON is decent due to the aforementioned increased demand; I'm sure it is similar in many places. Even if you can't find a stable job right away, you will be able to bide your time living off of locums/teleradiology work.

Note that pretty much everyone does a fellowship before finding a job; it's essentially a 6-7 year training process.