question from med student

[drboris]

I have a few questions about radiology...Dr.Cuts, WBC, Docxter, Radrules please feel free to comment and share your wisdom.

1) How did you guys become interested in rads? We have no core electives in rads durinng 3rd year, so how did you know it was for you?

2) What are some examples of the kind of patient interaction rads have on a daily basis?

3) Is it really going to be possible to work from home via computer like Dr.Cuts says?

4) Everyone keeps saying radiology hasn't had its share of medicare cutbacks, and eventually cutbacks and outsourcing will decrease the number of jobs as well as salaries. Well, is this true...and how low can the salaries go?

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[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

I first thought of radiology when I did MRI research between 1st and 2nd years (I was doing it for more the neurology aspect, but the technology was interesting). During third year, I enjoyed going down to radiology to go over scans with the radiologist. I did a 2 week elective in 3rd year, and still wasn't sure. Then in August of my 4th year I did a month and made the final decision. I loved the technology, the thought processes, the anatomy, interacting with other physicians, and focus on science without the social service issues.

Patient interaction depends on the rotation. On Gastro / Genitourinary, we do a lot of real time flouroscopy where we talk to the patient. On ultrasound, we do biopsies, throacentesis, paracenteses, sonohysterograms, and scan confusing findings 5-6 times a day. On CT, we do 1-2 biopsies per day. On Neuro we do angio and LPs or myelos, proabably on average 2-3 per day. On interventional, we do many different kinds of procedures. I'd say on most rotations (except interventional) it is 80-95% imaging and the rest procedures. The patient interaction sometimes includes a brief history, but mostly just discussing the procedure.

I don't think there will be wholescale movement of radiology out of the imaging facility due to the above reasons. However, call is already done via teleradiology at many places.

I think medicare will eventually cut reimbursement to radiology and this will decrease salaries by a little bit, but not a huge amount. I don't think this will effect the job market in terms of availablity.

 

[drboris]

Thanks WBC for your wise words, as usual. You said you liked the technology. I thought that the radiologist only reads the images, and the tech does the actual scan. How does the technology apply to your day to day activities?

Also, once out of residency what kind of daily schedule and what kind of environment do rads work in? Is it only hospital based or can you work from home, etc?

Thanks once again

 

[hans19]

Check out www.auntminnie.com
Thats the unofficial official site for the radiology community. Check the discussion forums, do a search.

Here's what I did when I had a question about ANY subspecialty: When I was a first year student I had no idea what all the specialties were or what they did. Out of sheer curiosity, I would take an hour study break and went to the medschool library and walked through the shelves and picked up textbooks for various specialties. I would pick up random books and browse through them to see what they were all about.

Here are some topics that I found wildly fascinating: Plastic and reconstructive surgery, Interventional radiology, ECMO, skull-base neurosurgery, Cardiothoracic surgery, Transplant surgery.

The subject 'Vascular Interventional Radiology' just sounded so esoteric, I had to find out WHAT the hell it actually was. I leafed through the pages of some VIR books and I found that some of the procedures just really innovative (Except for PICC lines and draining puss ). Way before I could even take the elective in radiology (only offered 4th year), I learned what I could about the field. Then I headed down to the radiology dept during the summer between 1st and 2nd year, introduced myself and asked, politely, if I could spend some time with the interventional radiologists. Though they were extremely busy, they picked up on my enthusiasm and they gladly showed me around. I was sold. The rest is history.

My point is- do your homework! So what if you don't have a radiology elective? If you got into medical school you are, in all likelihood, an intelligent and resourceful person. Take the initiative to make things happen. Shadow some radiologists and see if you like what they do. The topic of 'Why radiology?' has been discussed at length in the past. Try using the search function on this site. For starters try some of the earlier posts by Samsoccer. If thats not enough, google it. Head to the library.

If you still have questions feel free to ask.
Radiology is a great field for many people for many different reasons.
Best of luck.

Hans