Why you should not go to medical school

Post by carbocation » Sat, Sep 24, 2011, 6:51 PM UTC

roentgen wrote: post #114

true_religion wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Characterizing it as a "short cut" is disingenuous. The argument here is that medical boards are too rigorous, and test things that do not matter practically. To give a ridiculous example, if a medical school required you to climb Mount Everest before becoming a doctor that might result in only 1 person becoming a doctor per year. However that scarcity isn't proof that climbing Mount Everest is needed to become a doc…

In fact, the medical licensing exams and board exams are too lenient. The general quality of people going to medical school in the US has been dropping for a generation. The standards are sliding, to our detriment.

Post by Game_Ender » Sat, Sep 24, 2011, 7:16 PM UTC

roentgen wrote: post #67

jpdoctor wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I make over 800k a year Does it bother you that you are profiting handsomely from sick people?

Not at all. I'm very good at my job, and I worked very hard to get where I am. Sick people should be happy that I'm reading their CT scans. If the pay wasn't good I would have chosen a different field, and somebody else would be doing my job, less well. For reference, before medical school I worked in IT, and at the age of 23 ( 15 years ago ) I was making six figures. I left that to go back to school, partly because…

Post by hezekiah » Sat, Sep 24, 2011, 8:09 PM UTC

roentgen wrote: post #66

patrickgzill wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for your honesty. May I ask, what exactly do you do that you feel justifies your 800k per year? It seems to me that your career is ripe for disruption.

The Health Care Finance Administration ( Medicare / Medicaid ) sets reimbursements rates, and most private insurance companies follow suit. So, I don't get to charge whatever I want to read an MRI. And, I don't order the studies that I read, other doctors do that. The only thing I can control is the number of studies I read. If I work harder and read more, I make more. It just so happens that I am very fast, and I ha…

Post by hezekiah » Sat, Sep 24, 2011, 8:12 PM UTC

roentgen wrote: post #79

billjings wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also worth noting that radiology has been undergoing some significant transformations. Formerly, a practice would contract with one nearby hospital to read their cases. With the advent of teleradiology, though, it is no longer necessary for the practice to be all that close to the hospital. As a result, radiological practices are contracting with more hospitals. They are growing and sometimes putting smaller pra…

My group does this, but not because we're evil. Larger groups often have fellowship trained radiologists who are experts in a certain sub-specialty, for example Neuroradiology. Smaller groups are usually all 'general' radiologists. If we can read pediatric brain MRIs more accurately from across the country than the local small group, why shouldn't we? One additional note. My 'customers' are not really the patients, m…

Post by kyro » Sat, Sep 24, 2011, 8:23 PM UTC

larrys wrote: post #117

kyro wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this is off-topic, but I figured I'd take the opportunity to ask: As a medical student who aspires to enter radiology and ultimately own imaging centers, like you, what advice can you offer that'd help me and other HN-med students position ourselves to be appealing candidates for a radiology residency?

"and ultimately own imaging centers" Contact the MD here for advice: http://upper-dublin-mri.com/aboutus.aspx A nice guy, he was glad to help when I was thinking of starting up an imaging center. (The upshot from the meeting is that you have to have a tie in with a hospital and be aware that the hospital could end up doing the same in house etc. He's a businessman and a MD and would have profited from the association…