Does going to a "workhorse" residency program notably benefit your speed in private practice (Columbia vs NYU)

[anonymouspanda]

As the title suggests, I am almost 100% sure I want to do private practice. I was told that the reading speed difference between private practice and academics is only increasing and in order to maximize income and have the best shot at making partner it helps to be a fast reader. I am currently deciding whether to rank NYU vs Columbia #1 in order to meet this goal. From what I gathered NYU has more academic and research prestige in the field of radiology but Columbia residents absolutely read more scans (work a bit longer each day, take more call, have less dedicated research time, a little more pressure to read faster). Other than the large salary benefit Columbia has over NYU because of this, will the extra volume actually make me better for private practice? Or does your residency not really influence your reading speed

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[SeisK]

The difference is decreasing. I actually don’t know any programs where the residents don’t learn to pick up pace on ED coverage.

 

[AzBasRad]

Residency can influence your reading speed. However, you will likely have busy call with complex cases in both institutions. Speaking in general as a current R2 - your overall pace will largely depend on you. If you have multiple people during each call shift or day service, the work will be distributed among the among the trainees and the onus will fall on you to pick up more cases and read faster so that you increase your exposure.

Other things you should consider:
1) Breadth of exposure to advanced cases and if they are only available to fellows.
2) 4th year elective time and if you can do 6 mo mini fellowship or 1 year enfolded fellowships.
3) Quality of life in the reading room - reading room assistants, availability of ultrasound techs on call.

 

[RadsRocks!]

I agree with the above. Also NYU has a feature called extra call for extra pay where you are paid for extra call in comparison for it just being assigned to you. So you could do as much call as you want doing general radiology.

For me I try my best everyday to work hard but also not burnout. Right now I am focused on the quality more than the absolute quantity and appreciate that I am never responsible for clearing the list. As I get more advanced, I will have high quality and quantity I hope.

If a case is interesting the attending will call me over anyway.

NYU has AI education now too where you receive hard cases that you may not otherwise see. For example, so instead of having a whole day filled with arthritis on MSK there will be some cool zebra MSK cases for you to dictate too so you can learn more.

 

[anonymouspanda]

I agree with the above. Also NYU has a feature called extra call for extra pay where you are paid for extra call in comparison for it just being assigned to you. So you could do as much call as you want doing general radiology.

For me I try my best everyday to work hard but also not burnout. Right now I am focused on the quality more than the absolute quantity and appreciate that I am never responsible for clearing the list. As I get more advanced, I will have high quality and quantity I hope.

If a case is interesting the attending will call me over anyway.

NYU has AI education now too where you receive hard cases that you may not otherwise see. For example, so instead of having a whole day filled with arthritis on MSK there will be some cool zebra MSK cases for you to dictate too so you can learn more.

That feature did sound really cool when they talked about it. I think I prefer NYU overall but Columbia making 20k more plus getting paid 100/hr for half their call shifts is really enticing haha. So hard to make these decisions

 

[MadRadLad]

If you don't have money via family or spouse, 20k more is a big chunk especially in NYC.

NYU probably has a better rep in radiology but Columbia ain't closing any doors. NYU has stronger fellowships though.

In the end speed is partially based on training but also largely based on your mentality. Going to a busy program raises the floor of what you can handle, but as others have said it's rare to have a non-busy call shift anywhere these days.

 

[brownman23]

As the title suggests, I am almost 100% sure I want to do private practice. I was told that the reading speed difference between private practice and academics is only increasing and in order to maximize income and have the best shot at making partner it helps to be a fast reader. I am currently deciding whether to rank NYU vs Columbia #1 in order to meet this goal. From what I gathered NYU has more academic and research prestige in the field of radiology but Columbia residents absolutely read more scans (work a bit longer each day, take more call, have less dedicated research time, a little more pressure to read faster). Other than the large salary benefit Columbia has over NYU because of this, will the extra volume actually make me better for private practice? Or does your residency not really influence your reading speed

I'm at a "high-volume" residency and I can definitely tell which attendings trained at our home institution/other high volume institutions vs which attendings trained at more "cush" institutions. However, you're comparing Columbia with NYU. While Columbia has more of workhorse vibe, NYU is no slouch. NYU is regarded as the best residency program in the NY area. You'll get great training at both, and how you come out of a radiologist will depend a lot more on you than the institution.

I'd prioritize salary/benefits/moonlighting, residency culture, and location (Midtown east vs Washington heights) if you're between Columbia vs NYU. Your preparedness for private practice will be similar.

 

[vm26]

The difference is decreasing. I actually don’t know any programs where the residents don’t learn to pick up pace on ED coverage.

Yes the wRVU/total compensation gap is decreasing between academics and PP. PP model may not even exist by the time the OP is an attending...Dealing with level 1 trauma as a resident is very helpful.

 

[vm26]

In the end speed is partially based on training but also largely based on your mentality. Going to a busy program raises the floor of what you can handle, but as others have said it's rare to have a non-busy call shift anywhere these days.

I do think that mentality (temperament etc) largely influence speed...Training plays some role as well. If speed/efficiency is one's goal from the start, go join some random mid-west private practice rad program.

 

[Cognovi]

NYU has AI education now too where you receive hard cases that you may not otherwise see. For example, so instead of having a whole day filled with arthritis on MSK there will be some cool zebra MSK cases for you to dictate too so you can learn more.

Tell us more about how this works, what program is used, how it fits into the workflow for readouts.

 

[Clean7795]

Tell us more about how this works, what program is used, how it fits into the workflow for readouts.

Wonder if it's some sort of NLP that scans the MSK list for requisitions for "tumor" "mass" "recommended by rad" and auto-assigns the case to the resident worklist.

That would be very beneficial for future trainees (although getting fast at the routine boring stuff while maintaining high accuracy has value too).

 

[RadsRocks!]

I think you get cases put on the list of things you haven’t seen. Like 3-5 cases per day. For example you could get sarcoid and a few ILD on chest just to broaden your experience instead of just PE, SOB, and nodule follow up that you could spend all day doing otherwise. Or cool
US studies instead of “elevated liver enzymes” and thyroids