Are radiologists happy with their career choice?

[yowhassupdude]

There has been discussion that radiology offers a great "lifestyle" but I wonder how this translates into career satisfaction.
This may seem like a simple question, but there have been studies showing significant career disatisfaction of radiologists in the 90's. I haven't been able to find any more recent statistics.

Since radiology is a fairly competetive field, it would be a shame to bust your ass to become a radiologist and wind up regretting your decision 15 years down the line.

On a scale from 1-10 where 10 would be the absolute perfect job, how do you think most radiologists would rate thier current status?

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[colbgw02]

There has been discussion that radiology offers a great "lifestyle" but I wonder how this translates into career satisfaction.
This may seem like a simple question, but there have been studies showing significant career disatisfaction of radiologists in the 90's. I haven't been able to find any more recent statistics.

Since radiology is a fairly competetive field, it would be a shame to bust your ass to become a radiologist and wind up regretting your decision 15 years down the line.

On a scale from 1-10 where 10 would be the absolute perfect job, how do you think most radiologists would rate thier current status?

this is just anecdotal, but almost to a person, the radiologists i know love their job and think it's a great specialty, so i guess that would be a 9/10 or 10/10. personally, i know i will be much, much happier once i get to be a full-time radiologist (currently an intern). i think there's a reason people tend to switch into radiology, while i haven't heard of much of the opposite happening.

 

[hans19]

this is just anecdotal, but almost to a person, the radiologists i know love their job and think it's a great specialty, so i guess that would be a 9/10 or 10/10. personally, i know i will be much, much happier once i get to be a full-time radiologist (currently an intern). i think there's a reason people tend to switch into radiology, while i haven't heard of much of the opposite happening.

On most days I'd give it a 10/10, on a an absolutely crappy day I'd still give it a solid 9/10...

But I'm biased...

Serioulsy, most radiologists are happy with their jobs, but there is more to life than work. But no on can be happy ALL of the time. If a radiologist is unhappy its usually due to something not related to their job.

 

[kissarmy5689]

On most days I'd give it a 10/10, on a an absolutely crappy day I'd still give it a solid 9/10...

But I'm biased...

Serioulsy, most radiologists are happy with their jobs, but there is more to life than work. But no on can be happy ALL of the time. If a radiologist is unhappy its usually due to something not related to their job.

hello, i'm 15 and researching different careers- i'm interested in the medical field for numerous reasons, but i ask- what does your day consist of? how long? hours?

 

[jsaul]

hello, i'm 15 and researching different careers- i'm interested in the medical field for numerous reasons, but i ask- what does your day consist of? how long? hours?

you should be more worried about learning to drive, planning your sweet 16, friends, etc... enjoy your youth

 

[kissarmy5689]

you should be more worried about learning to drive, planning your sweet 16, friends, etc... enjoy your youth

lol honestly being a teenager isnt all it's cracked up to be. all my friends agree too.

+sweet 16!?!?! c'mon i'm not rich.

 

[yowhassupdude]

lol honestly being a teenager isnt all it's cracked up to be. all my friends agree too.

+sweet 16!?!?! c'mon i'm not rich.

enjoy your teenage years, and then your college years
you will never get them again


you will never have as much free time in your life ever again
embrace it

 

[kissarmy5689]

enjoy your teenage years, and then your college years
you will never get them again


you will never have as much free time in your life ever again
embrace it

not if i'm trying to be the best student i possibly can be. i'll save the fun for the college years, + it's not like i'm lacking fun-ness. but not to be an a-hole, can you answer my questions?

 

[MossPoh]

not if i'm trying to be the best student i possibly can be. i'll save the fun for the college years, + it's not like i'm lacking fun-ness. but not to be an a-hole, can you answer my questions?

To answer your question then...that varies widely on the person's focus. Averages differ from location and what is done varies on whether a person did a fellowship or if they just choose to do a specific area. That being said....you act like nobody in this forum has been a teenager in their lifetime. They were absolutley right....just have fun. We know what being a teenager entails as well as we all know what being a college student entails...which you haven't experienced yet. Believe it or not..there was a time when sweet 16 wasn't a MTV show about spoiled kids spending thousands upon thousands of dollars.......it is a time where you gain a little freedom and drive...and a real high school experience begins. If you are doing this as research for a school project then it is best to call up a local doctor and ask first hand...

 

[poloace]

wow... why are 15 year olds on this site? i agree with previous posts.

1- learn to drive
2- go to college
3- think about dentistry or PA school
4- if you decide medicine, apply to med school
5- evaluate your life at that time

p

 

[kissarmy5689]

wow... why are 15 year olds on this site? i agree with previous posts.

1- learn to drive
2- go to college
3- think about dentistry or PA school
4- if you decide medicine, apply to med school
5- evaluate your life at that time

p

sorry i guess 15 year olds aren't good enough for this site... jesus what if you wanted to do something you whole life and you want to know more about it and then you get dinguses who treat you like **** because of your age or inexperience. thanks for being kind and courteous.

 

[Pterion]

sorry i guess 15 year olds aren't good enough for this site... jesus what if you wanted to do something you whole life and you want to know more about it and then you get dinguses who treat you like **** because of your age or inexperience. thanks for being kind and courteous.

Listen Joe, if you want to find a way to be insulted by the feedback you're getting, then that's your decision. The people on this forum are in the field and have experience. They <we> have all been where you are. It appears that from the consistent response you are getting most people are giving you the same advice.

Translation: most think focusing on the here-and-now is more important than the what if. As far as your question about the potential waste of time, that would be true of anyone in any field. Radiology is competitive because of money and lifestyle, not to mention the actual practice factors that will mean nothing to you until med school. I don't say that to be insulting at all. Med school is something you have to experience to understand.

Being the best student you can be now and saving fun for the college years are not the best division of effort. If you need to choose, do well in college. A 4.0 in high school and a 3.2 in college won't get you where you want to go. Best of luck to you.

 

[kissarmy5689]

Listen Joe, if you want to find a way to be insulted by the feedback you're getting, then that's your decision. The people on this forum are in the field and have experience. They <we> have all been where you are. It appears that from the consistent response you are getting most people are giving you the same advice.

Translation: most think focusing on the here-and-now is more important than the what if. As far as your question about the potential waste of time, that would be true of anyone in any field. Radiology is competitive because of money and lifestyle, not to mention the actual practice factors that will mean nothing to you until med school. I don't say that to be insulting at all. Med school is something you have to experience to understand.

Being the best student you can be now and saving fun for the college years are not the best division of effort. If you need to choose, do well in college. A 4.0 in high school and a 3.2 in college won't get you where you want to go. Best of luck to you.

thanks for the nice post. i'll keep that in mind

 

[GammaRay]

thanks for the nice post. i'll keep that in mind

This guy is obviously a TROLL. I suggest we all stop replying to his postings.

 

[flux=rad]

In regard to the original post, I wonder if there was some cohort of physicians who actually didn't feel a significant amount of dissatisfaction with their jobs. In my experience a majority of physicians have never worked in any other field, and they have a relatively warped perception concerning daily trials and tribulations. No doubt there is plenty of stress to go around, but usually it seems during downtime that griping about generally trivial crap is number two on the hot topic list. Number one, of course, is ripping on their colleagues in other specialties.

 

[peppy]

Joe, as someone who decided I wanted to be doc when I was about your age, I can understand why you're asking these kinds of questions. However, as someone who is now getting a bit over the hill , I can also understand why the other folks want you to just focus on enjoying being young while it lasts (it does go by fast!).
The hours and lifestyle of a doctor can vary drastically depending on the setting, so that's why it's hard to answer that question.
My suggestion would be to look into shadowing a few doctors in different specialties or volunteering in a hospital in order to get an idea of what medicine is really like (if you end up applying to med school, you will need to show that you've done medical-related work anyway). There's nothing wrong with having a little fun on college, but make sure you make getting good grades in college your top priority. There are a lot of people who end up flunking out of college because they partied too much and those people often end up regretting it.
Good luck to you!

 

[yowhassupdude]

Looking at the income/call schedule stats (http://www.radworking.com/jobs/radiology-jobs.html), it's hard to see why radiologists might be unhappy with their jobs.

It might just be that the working conditions for these jobs are miserable. But I can't imagine someone not being happy with a job that pays 400,000+, where there's no nights, no weekends, and where you get 10 weeks of vacation per year....i must be missing something.

 

[zxcv1234]

Looking at the income/call schedule stats (http://www.radworking.com/jobs/radiology-jobs.html), it's hard to see why radiologists might be unhappy with their jobs.

It might just be that the working conditions for these jobs are miserable. But I can't imagine someone not being happy with a job that pays 400,000+, where there's no nights, no weekends, and where you get 10 weeks of vacation per year....i must be missing something.

"Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life."

-Confucius


Money by no means equates to happiness...

 

[p53]

"Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life."

-Confucius


Money by no means equates to happiness...

Neither does staying up all night in a community hospital ER or an academic center ER reading Triple Rule Outs. It is coming baby. You better believe it. We are on the brink of 24/7 CT interpretations.

I still can't medical students are planning to enter radiology because of an "easy" lifestyle. If you want easy lifestyle go into Derm, Path, or Optho. You will never have to work 3rd shift or 16 hours shifts in those specialties. For those that think Nighthawk is going to bail you out. Forget it. The amount of data in a 64 slice CT cannot be sent over the internet in a timely fashion. A radiologist will need to be inhouse to read the acute chest pains that come through the ER in a timely manner.

For those that think radiologists will continue to get $400,000 to $500,000 a year need to read up on reimbursement cuts, loss of turf battles, and self referrals by orthopods and cardiologists. The only way a radiologist will maintain current salary is to push out reads i.e. high volume. High volume leads to more "misses" which leads to being sued.

Radiology may seem to have good working hours, but you still work 58.5 hours a week on the average. Plus, many of us equate easy lifestyle by seeing academic radiologists that make only 40 to 50% of the income that community radiologists make and we deduce that radiologist get paid $400K a year. In reality, you either have a cush academic radiologist lifestyle for $200K a year, or a high volume, high stressful lifestyle of a community radiologist.

If you have ever seen a community hospital radiologist or an outpatient radiologist they work nonstop because it is ALL about volume. Radiology is very stressful if you don't truly like it.

Bottomline: Don't go into radiology for the "lifestyle" or money. These things are transient. Go into the field because of interest in the field. If you don't have interest in the field, shadow a radiologist or visit RSNA in November.

 

[f_w]

Neither does staying up all night in a community hospital ER or an academic center ER reading Triple Rule Outs. It is coming baby. You better believe it. We are on the brink of 24/7 CT interpretations.

That is why I can contract this out. A fellow in Baltimore is glad to do these for me.

The amount of data in a 64 slice CT cannot be sent over the internet in a timely fashion.

Says who ? There is a price for anything, and last time I looked the price for network bandwith was coming down (lots of 'dark fiber' out there).

High volume leads to more "misses" which leads to being sued.

Reading mammograms and 20wk fetal surveys gets you sued.

Plus, many of us equate easy lifestyle by seeing academic radiologists that make only 40 to 50% of the income that community radiologists make and we deduce that radiologist get paid $400K a year. In reality, you either have a cush academic radiologist lifestyle for $200K a year, or a high volume, high stressful lifestyle of a community radiologist.

Amen to that.

Bottomline: Don't go into radiology for the "lifestyle" or money. These things are transient.

Word

 

[Dhoot7]

Would about outsourcing of jobs? I wonder how hard it is to find a job with the risk of outsourcing jobs in the USA. Any advice on this?

 

[Fab5Hill33]

What outsourcing are you referring to? In order to practice medicine in the US you have to have a medical license in the state you practice (the state where the imaging study was performed).

Would about outsourcing of jobs? I wonder how hard it is to find a job with the risk of outsourcing jobs in the USA. Any advice on this?

 

[cowme]

Didn't you hear? All of radiologists are going to lose their jobs to outsourcing to India.

Oh wait, no that was the doom and gloom of 2007.

Now it's the computers who will take us over

 

[Dhoot7]

I've saw people have troubles finding jobs in radiology. I was just curious. Thanks!

 

[blebb]

I've saw people have troubles finding jobs in radiology. I was just curious. Thanks!

I've saw that people with bad english skills have trouble finding jobs in radiology.


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[iCY]

hello, i'm 15 and researching different careers- i'm interested in the medical field for numerous reasons, but i ask- what does your day consist of? how long? hours?

Kissarmy, if your primary question is hours worked than being a doctor may not be the right career choice. Most doctors are overworked. I am training in one of the easier residencies & I spend about 10-12 hours a day working/learning. A more reasonable lifestyle is a midlevel. You can be in a midlevel & still work treating sick patients & get job satisfaction & security. Look into PA programs.

Good luck!

 

[iCY]

Didn't you hear? All of radiologists are going to lose their jobs to outsourcing to India.

Oh wait, no that was the doom and gloom of 2007.

Now it's the computers who will take us over

Haha cowme. True that was the doom & gloom of 2007. The government thankfully put a stop to that! Don't know if they will be as kind to us with computers.

 

[deleted379552]

Necrobump alert. The thread is from 2006. Kissarmy must be at least 26 and potentially an intern now.

 

[PL198]

Didn't you hear? All of radiologists are going to lose their jobs to outsourcing to India.

Oh wait, no that was the doom and gloom of 2007.

Now it's the computers who will take us over

lol "we are on the brink of 24/7 CT interpretation" is pretty funny though

 

[DeucesHigh3]

lol "we are on the brink of 24/7 CT interpretation" is pretty funny though

I was more amused by "The amount of data in a 64[!!] slice CT cannot be sent over the internet in a timely fashion," but it's interesting to see that the fundamental debates about the field haven't changed in 11 years...

 

[meister]

It's like a completely different paradigm.

 

[tco]

Can we go back? I want to go back.

 

[vm26]

Didn't you hear? All of radiologists are going to lose their jobs to outsourcing to India.

Oh wait, no that was the doom and gloom of 2007.

Now it's the computers who will take us over

Next it will be computers in Indian