Nephrology?

[NRAI2001]

No one really seems to talk about nephrology very much, is it not very popular? What type of lifestyle do nephrologists have? How well are they paid?

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[Relaxo]

No one really seems to talk about nephrology very much, is it not very popular? What type of lifestyle do nephrologists have? How well are they paid?

Bump a dump

 

[retroviridae]

it is relatively popular and they have a decent life style. You can make a good living. This link has some avg. salaries. Scroll down for lists by specialty.

http://www.memag.com/memag/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=123419

 

[NRAI2001]

All of these numbers look pretty low, and seem lower than what most of the doctors who i ve spoken with seem to tell me.

I ve heard that nephrologists who open up dialysis centers make loads and loads of bank?

 

[roygbasch]

No one really seems to talk about nephrology very much, is it not very popular? What type of lifestyle do nephrologists have? How well are they paid?

Make sure you spend some solid time around nephrology patients, esp the inpatients, before you look into nephro too much. I'm glad there are great people out there who love doing it, but for many residents, nephro patients are misery personified. The typical profile of an end-stager includes blood pressure of 250/150 despite 5 drugs including either hydralazine or minoxidil; vasculopathy with amputation and/or gangrenous appendage; CAD with chest pain more or less all the time; CHF (and they end up in ER after they miss dialysis and are in pulmonary edema, usually weekends or late nights), horrible and resistent infections (a gram of vanc is a standing order for lots of HD patients at their dialyses, they all have MRSA); diabetes, brittle as hell and poorly controlled, with all the complications including retinopathy and gastroparesis (they always seem to be a bit nauseated), etc.

I have found nephologists to be very hard working and dedicated, among the most knowledgeable of all IM docs. It is for those who truly love the sickest of medical patients many of whom spend a good portion of their lives at death's door.

Plus you need to like transplant medicine and dealing with vascular surgeons (for transplants and HD shunts and all the vascular disease your patients will have).

Clearly, I'm among those who didn't enjoy my nephrology rotation. I think nephrology tends to generate strong opinions. You either love it or find it very very painful. I wouldn't consider it a lifestyle specialty by any means. I think it is a unique animal when compared to other subspecialties. Certainly felt that way in training anyway.
It would be interesting to hear some other opinions--maybe I'm more slanted than most.

 

[Furrball2]

As a nephrology fellow told me; even other internists dump patients on the nephrons. With that said he was very happy. He described both nephrology and critical care as internists for really, really sick people. It seemed a good description. It was a good rotation.

 

[CambieMD]

Make sure you spend some solid time around nephrology patients, esp the inpatients, before you look into nephro too much. I'm glad there are great people out there who love doing it, but for many residents, nephro patients are misery personified. The typical profile of an end-stager includes blood pressure of 250/150 despite 5 drugs including either hydralazine or minoxidil; vasculopathy with amputation and/or gangrenous appendage; CAD with chest pain more or less all the time; CHF (and they end up in ER after they miss dialysis and are in pulmonary edema, usually weekends or late nights), horrible and resistent infections (a gram of vanc is a standing order for lots of HD patients at their dialyses, they all have MRSA); diabetes, brittle as hell and poorly controlled, with all the complications including retinopathy and gastroparesis (they always seem to be a bit nauseated), etc.

I have found nephologists to be very hard working and dedicated, among the most knowledgeable of all IM docs. It is for those who truly love the sickest of medical patients many of whom spend a good portion of their lives at death's door.

Plus you need to like transplant medicine and dealing with vascular surgeons (for transplants and HD shunts and all the vascular disease your patients will have).

Clearly, I'm among those who didn't enjoy my nephrology rotation. I think nephrology tends to generate strong opinions. You either love it or find it very very painful. I wouldn't consider it a lifestyle specialty by any means. I think it is a unique animal when compared to other subspecialties. Certainly felt that way in training anyway.
It would be interesting to hear some other opinions--maybe I'm more slanted than most.

Nephrology is for hard working folk who love medicine and like to deal with complex problems. The nephrologists that I know are all bright and hard working. They love to talk about what they do and seem to remember the smallest details about their patients.

CambieMD