Jarafernando, did you actually even do tox?
It is true that there are some that haven’t been able to make a full-time career out of Toxicology. But some do (I know plenty, and I personally do 80% tox, and no I don’t work in a poison center). And if they do, they may make less than their EM only counterparts (I make about the same). However, even if some people decide to continue only doing EM after their tox fellowship, a toxicology fellowship can make someone a more confident (and more competent) emergency physician.
My husband is an emergency medicine physician in the community. He didn’t do a fellowship. He loves what he does. He was top of his class in med school and is very smart. But you better believe he calls me at all hours asking all kinds of random questions because he knows that these obscure things he sees every once in a while are the things I was trained in. I have experienced the “is this tox” question on countless occasions in my consults. He knows that I have differentials for pretty much anything he could throw at me.
EM is lucrative. But burnout is real. People don’t go into tox for the money necessarily… they go in to it because they enjoy the challenge. For me, I’m much less burned out than my husband. If I had to make the choice again, I would still do the “2 year fellowship that cost me $800,000” ten times to be where I am right now. 🙄
