Is Neurology right for me?

[Disaronno]

Now, I know most of you have opened this thread only to tell me to do a search on the forum boards. I did that, but some things were unclear, contradictory, or unanswered. So I decided to make my own post and deal with the possible flaming that could happen *zips flamesuit up*

1. How does a Neurologist and a PM&R differ in an outpatient setting? PM&R (from my understanding) is a nerve/bone/muscle physician, while a neurologist is a CNS/PNS physician, but of course that also relates to muscle in terms of dianosis.

2. I've read that a neurologist has a controllable schedule, yet I read many threads indicating that neurologists work long hours and are frequently on-call. What kind of hours should I expect to be working if I choose neurology?

3. I absolutely love researching about neurology and appreciate the complexity of the brain and nervous system. However, will I even have time to do personal research if I have a family and a life outside of the field?

4. Of the subspecialties, which is most conducive to yielding a family-friendly lifestyle? When I begin med school (I was just recently accepted), I made a promise to my fiance and to myself that, though I may work my butt off while in med school, that I would eventually find a specialty where I can be a physician but can still be a good (and existent) husband and father.

Again, thank you for any serious responses to my post, I've done ample searching to answer my questions but couldn't find a clear answer.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[neurologist]

Now, I know most of you have opened this thread only to tell me to do a search on the forum boards. I did that, but some things were unclear, contradictory, or unanswered. So I decided to make my own post and deal with the possible flaming that could happen *zips flamesuit up*

1. How does a Neurologist and a PM&R differ in an outpatient setting? PM&R (from my understanding) is a nerve/bone/muscle physician, while a neurologist is a CNS/PNS physician, but of course that also relates to muscle in terms of dianosis.

2. I've read that a neurologist has a controllable schedule, yet I read many threads indicating that neurologists work long hours and are frequently on-call. What kind of hours should I expect to be working if I choose neurology?

3. I absolutely love researching about neurology and appreciate the complexity of the brain and nervous system. However, will I even have time to do personal research if I have a family and a life outside of the field?

4. Of the subspecialties, which is most conducive to yielding a family-friendly lifestyle? When I begin med school (I was just recently accepted), I made a promise to my fiance and to myself that, though I may work my butt off while in med school, that I would eventually find a specialty where I can be a physician but can still be a good (and existent) husband and father.

Again, thank you for any serious responses to my post, I've done ample searching to answer my questions but couldn't find a clear answer.

I'm only going to answer the 4th question since I've answered all the others elsewhere.

If you want "family friendly lifestyle," go into a specialty that has no real emergencies, or at least "emergencies" that are not life-threatening, or areas where the work is not really time-urgent.

That pretty much EXCLUDES modern neurology, since nowadays we are always getting called for every weird symptom that someone thinks might be a stroke. Even if it turns out not to be a stroke, you still have to see the patient (ASAP because of the time constraints on TPA) to make that determination, because nobody else wants the responsibility of making that decision.

If "lifestyle" is what you want, you should be looking at derm, path, ophtho, rheumatology, radiology, rad-onc, PM&R, or plastic/reconstructive surgery.

 

[JP2740]

Now, I know most of you have opened this thread only to tell me to do a search on the forum boards. I did that, but some things were unclear, contradictory, or unanswered. So I decided to make my own post and deal with the possible flaming that could happen *zips flamesuit up*

1. How does a Neurologist and a PM&R differ in an outpatient setting? PM&R (from my understanding) is a nerve/bone/muscle physician, while a neurologist is a CNS/PNS physician, but of course that also relates to muscle in terms of dianosis.

2. I've read that a neurologist has a controllable schedule, yet I read many threads indicating that neurologists work long hours and are frequently on-call. What kind of hours should I expect to be working if I choose neurology?

3. I absolutely love researching about neurology and appreciate the complexity of the brain and nervous system. However, will I even have time to do personal research if I have a family and a life outside of the field?

4. Of the subspecialties, which is most conducive to yielding a family-friendly lifestyle? When I begin med school (I was just recently accepted), I made a promise to my fiance and to myself that, though I may work my butt off while in med school, that I would eventually find a specialty where I can be a physician but can still be a good (and existent) husband and father.

Again, thank you for any serious responses to my post, I've done ample searching to answer my questions but couldn't find a clear answer.

Good questions. I'll be interested to see the answers myself.

 

[aaddnl]

#1: neurologists diagnose and treat epilepsy, headaches, parkinsons, dementia, ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, MS, neuropathy, spinal cord disease, infectious and inflammatory conditions of the nervous system, among other things. PM&R often see patients with musculoskeletal pain and sometimes do pain treatments such as injections, they also see patients recovering from trauma, stroke, surgery and guide them through the recovery process. Very different fields, some occasional overlap in certain areas.
#2: there is generally a demand for neurologists in practice these days due to a variety of factors--aging population, more hospitals wanting stroke coverage, high demand vs low supply......so yes many neurologists are working hard. Yes you can find some part time jobs and outpatient only jobs with Cush hours but don't expect to make that much in a position like that. But for some people that suits them fine.
#3: this has been discussed. If you want to do research you need to stay in academics and complete research oriented fellowships them secure a position with dedicated time for research. These positions have more limited clinical responsibilities in general. Otherwise it is very difficult to find time to do research "on the side."
#4:if you are already worried about not having to work hard in your career I would advise against neurology and consider derm, rads, PM&R, path, psych. ER or maybe a few others. Frankly I don't get it. I know a lot of colleagues with the same attitude and it's very common in younger docs compared to older ones, but I don't get why you would devote so much effort and time and money to get in to med school, go thru med school and residency, learn important knowledge to help your future patients, and then work as little as possible when you get out. It's probably one of the reasons there is a doc shortage. I understand wanting to have time with family and friends but you can work hard and still have that....construction workers and a lot of people in retail, as well as business folks and lawyers often work 50, 60 hours a week or more and still hang out with family. I think most people expect that doctors work hard so you would think you would kind of know what you are getting in to when you decide to go to med school.....my two cents....anyway good luck....

 

[neurologist]

#4:if you are already worried about not having to work hard in your career I would advise against neurology and consider derm, rads, PM&R, path, psych. ER or maybe a few others. Frankly I don't get it. I know a lot of colleagues with the same attitude and it's very common in younger docs compared to older ones, but I don't get why you would devote so much effort and time and money to get in to med school, go thru med school and residency, learn important knowledge to help your future patients, and then work as little as possible when you get out. It's probably one of the reasons there is a doc shortage. I understand wanting to have time with family and friends but you can work hard and still have that....construction workers and a lot of people in retail, as well as business folks and lawyers often work 50, 60 hours a week or more and still hang out with family. I think most people expect that doctors work hard so you would think you would kind of know what you are getting in to when you decide to go to med school.....my two cents....anyway good luck....

I don't think it's an issue of not wanting to "work hard," it's an issue of not wanting to have your life totally consumed by your job. Every physician "works hard" in the sense of making difficult decisions about complicated issues, or dealing with behaviorally difficult patients (well, maybe not path or rads). Some physicians (surgeons, mostly) also work very hard physically. The issue is that not many people really want to be doing either of those on a 24-7 basis. When a construction worker or retail worker goes home at the end of the day or for a weekend or holiday, they're done. When a doctor goes home, they're often on call or otherwise liable for additional work outside the office (charting, phone calls, educational stuff, etc). Some people want time with family or time to pursue other interests that keep them human and enjoying life. Others are perfectly happy spending 19 hours a day at work. To each his own, but I think there is room for both types in medicine.

 

[rockydoc]

I'm only going to answer the 4th question since I've answered all the others elsewhere.

If you want "family friendly lifestyle," go into a specialty that has no real emergencies, or at least "emergencies" that are not life-threatening, or areas where the work is not really time-urgent.

That pretty much EXCLUDES modern neurology, since nowadays we are always getting called for every weird symptom that someone thinks might be a stroke. Even if it turns out not to be a stroke, you still have to see the patient (ASAP because of the time constraints on TPA) to make that determination, because nobody else wants the responsibility of making that decision.

If "lifestyle" is what you want, you should be looking at derm, path, ophtho, rheumatology, radiology, rad-onc, PM&R, or plastic/reconstructive surgery.

What about neuro-hospitalists? Or those within certain subspecialties or large practice groups with more spread-out call schedule? Do all neurologists have crazy schedules because of ER consults? I've seen survey results from Medscape that show average hours/week for neurology that is not bad compared to most other specialties (excluding derm, path, optho, rheum, rads, pmr). But I would think the typical person attracted to neurology is not so much attracted to most of those other fields. Alternative fields for neurologists may include fields out of internal medicine and I feel like most of those guys work very hard. I guess everything is relative.

 

[Mattchiavelli]

I don't think it's an issue of not wanting to "work hard," it's an issue of not wanting to have your life totally consumed by your job....When a construction worker or retail worker goes home at the end of the day or for a weekend or holiday, they're done.

This. It sucks when you're at a social function and whoops got paged have to take this... no one has ever gotten paged because there was a shirt folding incident at The Gap.