S/O Healthcare thread--physician salary

[Bluegoat]

I come from a medical family, in Canada.  I won't say money is never an issue for doctors here - there are legitimate issues in teh way billing works, which affect quality of care, for example, or how they can organize care, as well as just the doctor's home life.  It's always a sort of ongoing negotiation.  Specialists make more than GPs (whch causes some of its own issues.)

 

However, I really roll my eyes at those who say it isn't a lucrative career any more.  Phul-eeze.  It's a nice upper middle class income, even if it is not a way to get rich.  Why it should be a way to get rich I don't know, but I don't think Canadian doctors commonly believe that it should be these days.  You can have a nice house in a nice area, probably afford for your spouse not to work if you like, or private school for your kids, a nice newer car, some nice vacations, and so on.  It does mean really working for your salary - I used to work in a clinic where one younger doctor seemed to think he should be doing very well despite not working a lot of hours - well, that won't happen. 

 

But most doctors are able to live a little better on one salary than the bulk of people do on two, which I think is good money and nothing to complain about.

[luuknam]

However, I really roll my eyes at those who say it isn't a lucrative career any more.  Phul-eeze.  It's a nice upper middle class income, even if it is not a way to get rich. 

 

"Lucrative: producing a great deal of profit."

 

We're talking about people who are hard-working and intelligent. Med school, followed by at least one of the lower-paying options such as GP, does not end up earning them more than if they put the same amount of effort into say, engineering, work in the financial sector, etc, but does end up with a bigger mountain of debt. Now, I'm not convinced anyone needs to get rich, but I wouldn't consider it a lucrative career for the people who can manage to go into that career.

[creekland]

I have met two, one in each of my children's cohort. One is a child of a plumber, one a child of an electrician. Neither parents recommend those careers...plumber is hard on the knees and electrician has limitations bc of the union. What they suggest is that the kid own a larger business that provides those services...and a mechanical engineering degree is a good compliment to the business ojt they recieved growing up. The kids get to college, and found they could get the grades for pre-med, and biomedical looks good. Surgeon or dentist looks good. So, if they cant get in to med or dental school, they have a backup plan. If they can, there is a side business possibility.

 

Ok, I had completely forgotten about those who decided to become medical folks later on in life.  I was thinking of our typical 9th/10th graders doing career planning/research at our school.  I know of several who gravitated to the medical field in various positions after heading to college and exploring options.  Some may have originally been thinking plumbing.  I don't know.

 

I've yet to see a high school student debating between the two options though.

 

Creekland,

What does MSTP mean?

 

Medical Science Training Program

 

It's a program sponsored by the NIH (National Institute of Health) to train future research doctors.  It's highly competitive, so there's no guarantee for even top stat students that they will get into it, but for those who do, it's an awesome way to get training paid for by taxpayers rather than student loans.  At this point, roughly 1/3rd of those who try for it (essentially all top stat (in college) students) get slots. 

 

ETA - not all who get slots are funded by NIH.  Some med schools have other funding options from donors or groups.  NIH alone tends to have a 9-10% acceptance rate as I look at the data.

 

FTR, I 100% support my tax dollars heading to programs like this even if my guy isn't fortunate enough to get a slot.  It's a great way for our country to tap into some top minds out there and not leave them in super high debt in the process.

 

I was going to link to a more official site, but wiki actually gives a quick summary that seems pretty good at first look:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_Scientist_Training_Program

 

Here's an NIH site:

 

https://www.nigms.nih.gov/Training/InstPredoc/Pages/PredocOverview-MSTP.aspx

Edited August 2, 2016 by creekland

[vonfirmath]

I have met two, one in each of my children's cohort. One is a child of a plumber, one a child of an electrician. Neither parents recommend those careers...plumber is hard on the knees and electrician has limitations bc of the union. What they suggest is that the kid own a larger business that provides those services...and a mechanical engineering degree is a good compliment to the business ojt they recieved growing up. The kids get to college, and found they could get the grades for pre-med, and biomedical looks good. Surgeon or dentist looks good. So, if they cant get in to med or dental school, they have a backup plan. If they can, there is a side business possibility.

 

My boss is the owner of a plumbing/sheetmetal company. He has an engineering degree but did NOT go on to take the test to become an engineer because having an engineer's license is too much liability for the company.  He is recommending his own kids do the same. We do what the engineers design. We do not design the job.

 

[magnificent_baby]

I work in our areas level 1 trauma center and work directly with the radiologists and ER physicians.  I don't know what they make but I think they earn every penny.  I do not know how our ER docs manage to come to work every day and see the things they see and put up with the things that they put up with.  The level of responsibility carried by both sets of docs in mind-boggling and incredibly stressful.

 

I know the radiologists do well enough financially but I wouldn't really consider any of them rich.   

 

As a former ER nurse, I agree with you 100%. That's why in a previous post, I think physicians/NP/PA's fully deserve their pay. Incredible amount of responsibility to be in charge of decision making for ones life. 

[Ravin]

$100k/yr with a quarter million $ plus in student loans is not better off than $50k/yr. with little to no student loans.

 

Actually it's quite a lot better off when you can use an income-based repayment plan that limits your payments to 10 or 15% of your adjusted gross income with loan forgiveness at 10 years of payments.