The unfortunate truth is that, to the vast majority of practicing physicians, medicine is just a job. So what may seem interesting in any specialty now will eventually become routine, and all you will be left with in the end is how stressful the job is, the money it pays, and the amount of time off it grants you. The seemingly boring and esoteric fields like dermatology and ophthalmology are very competitive because they allow for ample time off, they have a high earning potential (in-office procedures and quick surgeries allow for high compensation), and are generally low-stress fields. The point about procedures is important as well. The sad state of healthcare in America today is that procedures generate more revenue than office visits, work-ups, diagnosis and treatment (you know, the things that people expect doctors to do). So if a gastroenterologist spends all day scoping people, or if a dermatologist spends all day doing in-office procedures, that makes more money than actually thinking through a problem and trying to help a patient. In the end, it is more profitable to be a mindless technician than an actual physician (surgery is obviously not mindless, but many surgeries actually lose money compared to pumping out quick procedures). With that being said, many people do go into fields that are known to be lower-paying and with less "prestige" (peds, FM, IM), and many people do go into fields that have insane hours and poor lifestyle (general surgery, neurosurgery, etc.), so there is definitely something to be said about actually pursuing a field out of interest and passion rather than just pursuing good lifestyle and pay. But it is no coincidence that the happiest and least burnt-out doctors are those in fields that offer high pay and low stress.
@@tehmightymo Yup hit the nail on the head. It all becomes routine and relatively boring after a number of years. The best thing in life is spending time with your loved ones, so the specialties that allow for that with high compensation are by far the most popular.
For everyone still looking at 2023, this list is totally outdated. EM is now probably around FM level. Psychiatry and anesthesiology are a lot higher now as well, the match for psychiatry is not based on numbers but rather focused on the individual
Interested in a video that outlines and breaks down the path to different sub-specialties through the internal medicine route, and the timeline of becoming said specialist (i.e., route to internal medicine --> gastroenterology, cardiology, nephrology, etc....). I've never quite understood this and it's hard to find clear and concise explanations on the internet.
Not too shocking. It's subspecialties and fellowships pay literally 50-60% of what the same specialty for adults would pay, you have to deal with sick children, and you have to deal with the parents of sick children. I say this as someone interested in peds, emotions aside, it makes sense why people don't want to do it. What's shocking to me is that PM&R made the list, when it's clearly trending toward more competitive.
OBGYN is considered a surgical speciality, hence will always be more competetive. Do I think surgeons are smarter? Probably not, but competitiveness always tends to be that way.
@@bonzahrn5148 that is absolutely false XD L&D was awful outside of c-sections. to each their own. Pretty sure OB is average competitiveness with regards to stats.
Would you guys please do videos on the specialities middle of the pack. We only ever hear about those on either end of the spectrum which doesn’t provide those of us interested in those other specialities with a lot of information. Just a thought
@@rwinkler4321 i think internal medicine is paid much better than pediatrics in Germany. In hospitals all doctors get paid the same, but in outpatient care, the internal medicine doctors are paid much better.
@@YoshiAndTheTardis In hospitals all doctors are technically paid the same but at my hospital it's way easier in internal medicine to get your overtime paid out..
@@YoshiAndTheTardis in the end it's not like this will influence my choice too much... I love pediatrics, don't think I will switch for more money when I'm already comfortable
German anaesthesiologist here, this video is in it's entirety not applicable to us as we don't have this weird matching process and graduates can enter any specialty they see fit, it might only occasionally be a problem to get a residency position in a specific hospital but overall we have many more open positions than residents in all fields. So "competitiveness" is not a thing in Germany and all hospital doctors are paid the same regardless of specialty.
Peds always pays less than the non-peds version of that specialty. That's why people say peds fellowships are the few that actually make you less money.
Anything with children and animals attract people who want to make differences with those groups. So since wages aren't as necessary to attract they have been typically underpaid.
It's almost all to do with medicaid (peds patients) vs medicare (more FM patients). The reimbursement is way better from Medicare. You can be a child neurologist, but will not see as much money as a neurologist because of insurance. It really doesn't matter how much training you've done. If "peds" is in the name, you are gonna be making less.
i’m a medical scribe in an emergency department, we are so short of doctors it’s crazy! you gotta be ready to dave the scariest cases, switch from a calm day to an adrenaline rushing emergency. it’s so draining but there is a huge appeal for those who enjoy that unpredictability. thankfully charting for ER and internal medicine is getting easier since there are more scribes spreading in the US, the stress of risking a lawsuit just goes to us LMAO
Hi Katie! I'm currently a high schooler within my senior year, and I'm really interested in becoming an Emergency Medicine Physician. I'm curious into knowing about what you did to become a medical scribe in an emergency department. I feel stressed in not knowing what I should be doing right now to become better prepared for undergrad, and then going into medical school. I was wondering if you happen to have any tips or anything you think I should know before pursuing a career as an Emergency Medicine Physician? If you could reply back with your experience within the field as well, I would appreciate that so much, thank you!
@@Eddyuardov becoming a scribe isn’t hard actually! you really just apply like any other job, just make sure you of course show an interest in medicine. a lot of new out of residency ED physicians were actually scribes during their undergrad. just a warning that you do work full 9 hour shifts, but it’s very flexible so going to school is not an issue. I think working in an ED is honestly the best way to prepare to be an ED physician, as you are quite literally part of the action. you are glued to the doctor you are working with that day, and it’s paid clinical hours which is always good. I scribe through Scribe America which it probably the biggest company for scribing. They don’t expect any experience unlike other scribing companies which is also nice. they are super flexible and undergrad students are actually recommended to work in an ED as it’s the most flexible work hours for us.
Family medicine specialists are paid well in Canada. Average is $450k-$500k a year for 40 hour weeks in BC :) Rural family doctors make even more! Saying this from personal experience as I am in this specialty
@@lonewolf604 I live in the lower mainland of BC, so not far from Victoria, and am in this specialty. $435k a year for 9-5 Monday to Friday was one of the offers I had 🤷🏻♀️
Nothing wrong with that! I am a 4th year med student applying psych and psych/IM and I think its super easy to minimize ones accomplishments and work when thinking they are applying to a less competitive specialty but no matter the path you choose you will be making a difference in the world, you can always shoot for top programs, and at the end of the day you will be apart of some of the most educated people to have walked the earth with a ridiculous path to get there that most find too challenging to attempt or finish. Best of luck!
I'm more surprised that my beloved PM&R is getting more competitive. 😭 On the one hand, I'm glad it's getting more attention as a worthy specialty. But on the other hand, who keeps running their mouth and making it more competitive?!
"Least competitive" and "easiest" are far from the same thing. By all means, I'm stoked for you, and you should keep feeling encouraged! I just think that distinction is very important.
Glad to see Internal Medicine mentioned and different examples provided. Hope to see a focused So You Want To Be video on Infectious Disease specialists
@Jocelyn Elder I can't speak for OP but personally I'm a big ID/IM geek without ever having watched that show ... Although your guess is probably a good one because I often find myself suspecting I'm the only one lol 😂
@Jocelyn Elder Lol accurate, but I'm early enough in the process that I'm sure I can fit it in at some point XD I've certainly heard a lot of praise for it!
Do the hours worked include administrative work/documentation (eg, following up on patient messages, lab/ imaging results)? Thinking about FM docs whose jobs don't end when they go home.
Yes, the hours listed likely includes the admin time. For example the predominately office based specialties (Neurology, Allergy, Psychiatry, IM/FM primary care, ect) are almost always 40 hours directly seeing patients. Some docs may do an odd 12 hour day in clinic or moonlight in a hospital on night/weekend, but it isn't common. The extra hours listed then are typically admin/documenting time.
im curious if you're saying that FM docs can work desirable 9-5 schedules.... but still work 53 hrs/wk?? why wouldnt the avg be much closer to 40 then?
sad how psychiatry is one of the competitive but ain't priority in my country... they rather believe in holy holy and self destruction why people having irrational behavior :'>
As a future psychiatrist, I am so grateful that I will probably have a less stressful time in medical school than most others These replies really think I’m naive enough that I’m saying med school will be easy. I said *less stressful* not easy 😂
People are wisening up to how awesome it is! It's definitely getting increasingly competitive, and top programs are still very competitive regardless. Not on the level of plastic surgery, but you still gotta put some work in to stand out. Test scores and pub numbers are still not crazy hard to beat, though, since those aren't the priority. source: Applying this cycle with ~15 people in my class from a top 10 med school.
@@mustang8206 Why are you so reactive to someone having confidence in themselves/in their ability to live out the future they want? What was your goal with that comment? To me you just sound insecure since you're so provoked by someone displaying security, but you could have lots of other possible motivations of course.
@@RedrumCvmlcs That gets SOOOOO long, it's not worth it. He did talk about how from family, internal and peds, you get the entry point to subspecialties.
@@bonzahrn5148 It's not a subspecialty, it's an advanced residency that needs at least one year of specialty training in another specialty like IM or peds before you can apply.
the numbers of crnas have started exploding and less and less of them are undertaking ICU experience beforehand, so their training pathway is faster than ever before.
@@bluethunder9102 Not to mention that CRNA school is actually rather competitive and requires training that many MD's wouldn't do (living away from home for extended periods etc)
Internal Medicine seems a bit high don’t you think? It appears to be a specialty thats available to just about everyone as long as your not talking top 20.
Gastroenterology and Electrophysiology are the most competitive fellowships among all fellowships and income are one of the highest in all specialty . But they are in Internal Medicine. So you can not say internal medicine in general as least competitive
With all the competition to get into medical school and even matching into your specialty, we can thank the largest trade union and cartel, the AMA, and US government for artificially controlling who can become a med-student and doctor. You should make a video on the corruption of the AMA in controlling med-school admissions, requirements, and licensure, which weeds out those who can be a doctor. The AMA lobbied in the late 80s to early 90s on restricting med-school enrollment and residency to restrict the number of doctors and keep their own salaries high. Now they're suffering from a shortage of doctors. On a different note, I don't see the practicality of just throwing in an average salary when private practice among many different forms of income for docs can vary on an enormously broad scale across many insurances and contracts.
WHERE THE ENTIRE HECK IS RURAL? 😠 There's no way it's not in this range. Or is it considered to be folded in with family, as outpatient primary care? I'd argue that it carries sufficiently different implications, given the usually comparatively smaller amount of resources, the broader inter-specialty range of care provided, and the greater proportion of social/public health work. It could have at least been given a nod in the family med section, or an honorable mention as a not-officially-a-specialty specialty. Way to contribute (albeit surely unintentionally) to the lack of awareness of and interest in this critical need area. 😑 I love your work in general, and oversights happen, I ain't mad per se ... but it is certainly an oversight, and I'm disappointed. (You can make it up to me by making a video focused on it. 😜)
@@bonzahrn5148 Fair, still definitely deserves mention though (especially in this context) & there's tragically little info out there about it, particularly on this channel.
