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A radiologist answers “should you go into radiology?”

Medicine

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Dr. Saurabh Jha was once a surgical resident in the U.K and then decided to change course to go into radiology.

An article Dr Jha wrote on the topic of whether or not a junior doctor should go into the profession of radiology has appeared on popular blog KevinMD.com. The pros and cons are summarised below.

The Pros:

  • Radiology is leading health care in information technology, which can make it exciting for the tech-savvy medical student.
  • Growing demand in international health, though you would not sent to heal diseases in remote countries or quarantined in the military base.
  • Although radiology is now 24/7 and there are times when you will be on-call, when you are off, you are off

The Cons:

  • Not ideal for those who wish to make lots of money (compared with some other surgical specialties)
  • Prepare for 20 to 30 hours of reading a week during the training.
  • The shifts are non-stop
  • The practice of radiology now involves more interaction with patients, so don’t go into this area if you think that you are going to avoid patients – radiologists doing interventional, ultrasound, mammography and fluoroscopy must speak well to patients.
  • Radiology is not a backup plan – radiologists do what other doctors do – mastering anatomy, radiological pathology, physics, and clinical medicine.

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Image: Praisaeng – freedigitalphotos.net

 

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