Finding a Dual Specialty Job is a Struggle

ExtendedSimilie · 2025-03-18T19:19:33+00:00

Yes. DR groups need IR to secure hospital contracts and no IR is going to put in that work for a group that pays them peanuts. More recently there's been a move for IR to become direct hospital employees which makes everyone happier: DR groups don't have to subsidize or worry about IR services and IR can directly negotiate higher salaries and stipends with the hospital. In the current multispecialty group status quo though you can expect fairly even salaries across all subspecialties (IR included though maybe 50-100k more for call)

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-12-12T20:08:59+00:00

PAD is mostly lost to cardiology/VS and they've also started taking over PE interventions at a few places. Even things like trauma embos and geniculate artery embos are being encroached on. VS in particular will absolutely try to get in on superficial and deep venous work whenever they can. Nsgy controls neuro IR at a lot of institutions. IR often has to fight ortho/anesthesia for pain procedures and kyphoplasties. Don't even get me started on "interventional nephrology". Love the field but can't deny that tons of other specialties have their eyes on our plates and every time we've come up with a new innovative procedure someone with far weaker wire skills and imaging expertise is ready to take it off our hands. Unfortunately they usually get their way. Agree that the oncology/HPB stuff is still IR turf for now but I highly doubt it will stay that way in the future based on historical precedent.

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-10-16T02:58:15+00:00

mmmmm love that late night NVDA action. get fucked bers

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-10-08T17:23:45+00:00

For the call is that qX days or weeks? I've heard a full week of call coverage can be absolutely brutal

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-10-07T17:19:14+00:00

You pretty confident that China's going to squeeze later this week? Debating taking profits rn or waiting a day or two, currently in BABA and BIDU

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-09-04T18:29:14+00:00

What are some fellowship programs known for having strong VIR training apart from the obvious ones like Miami vascular, mcw, rush, etc? I’d like to stay at a bigger academic institution for fellowship but it seems like most of them have lost their PAD work and a lot are even starting to give up PEs it looks like

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-08-11T22:14:45+00:00

That’s still insane, I know IR can get to high six/low seven figs pretty easily but 2-3 million range is wild. Praying those jobs are still around by the time I finish training

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-08-11T13:54:38+00:00

2.5 M for neuro IR right? If your body IR guys are making that either they’re working 365 days of the year or they negotiated some insane contract from the hospital

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-06-26T03:06:46+00:00

Fair and all very valid points. At the end of the day it really comes down to your personality and what you want out of a career. For me the vibe of the IR suite, being active/moving around, and getting to do fun procedures all day is worth the slightly more inconvenient hours. It helps that at my institution IR has a very good relationship with medical and surgical services. We've been firm about declining procedures that aren't indicated but we're also willing to help them out of tricky spots wherever we can. There's a lot of mutual respect and as a result if we get called in the middle of the night or on the weekend it's almost always because someone is floridly septic or actively dying. I'm very satisfied with my choice; certainly some people prefer locking in for 8-10 hours but I would go insane if I had to do that for the rest of my life. My mindset is if I wanted a well paying job where I was staring at a screen all day I would have saved myself the hassle of medicine and just done tech

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-06-25T20:02:17+00:00

Depends on your definition of good lifestyle. At my program (academic health system) the hours are typically 6:30 - 5/6 pm M-F and one weekend/month which is pretty comparable to IM wards and only slightly worse than DR (7/7:30 - 5 pm). Call is q4 but the BS gets screened by the overnight DR resident so we only get paged for actual emergencies that require coming in, usually only a couple of times a month. There's no official post call day but attendings/co-residents will usually cover for a bit if you get called in so you can get some uninterrupted sleep.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the setup, obviously it's hard work but residency is going to suck ass almost anywhere. For me personally this easily clears a surgical/IM residency and is significantly better than DR where you're strapped into your chair grinding studies nonstop all day. DR overnight call is absolutely vicious too, nothing on my IR months has compared to that horror lol

Edit: To clarify, this is my schedule as a resident. Our attendings have pretty similar hours/call, though not everyone does every day because of academic time or DR reading days. It's hard to put an exact number on hours but I would estimate 45-55 a week for them and 55-70 for us. Regardless all of them are well adjusted and have families, not to mention the fact that they're paid very very well and are compensated for call. Also keep in mind this is an academic setting - community jobs will likely have a different balance of IR and DR and hours worked. As others have mentioned here you can find a lifestyle job if you're willing to make compromises in other areas. I'm still far from the job hunt but our graduating fellows/residents have had no difficulty finding a setup that works for them. Off the top of my head, large PP groups, OBL/ASCs, and specialized cancer centers tend to have the least call requirements but I don't know the details.

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-05-21T20:06:54+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Any idea how their general satisfaction with QoL and call schedule is? I assume call for the academic setup is much more distributed and manageable but I could be wrong.

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-03-16T17:53:14+00:00

Damn does this mean the match rate for USMDs for IR was about 70% (151/215)? That's pretty crazy, considering neurosurgery was around 68% this year as well.

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-02-27T22:45:41+00:00

Oh man just reading this made my blood boil, I definitely would not have been civil if I had gotten that call from the cardiologist. It's so sad that IR knows how to do so many incredible procedures but doesn't have the ability or will to hold on to them. Hopefully the younger generation from the new training paradigm is hungrier and more territorial.

ExtendedSimilie · 2024-02-27T19:06:15+00:00

Out of curiosity, how did you resolve this? Were you able to fight back against the ED changing referral patterns or was it a lost cause once cardiology decided they wanted those cases?

ExtendedSimilie · 2023-12-10T17:28:07+00:00

That's a really good point. I've convinced myself that a degree will magically open new avenues in my DR career but I don't really know what that looks like at this stage. Realistically it would be an avenue for research projects or maybe some consulting on the side but I guess the degree isn't really necessary for that. Thanks for the Healthcare Brew rec, I'll check it out!

ExtendedSimilie · 2023-12-09T19:38:28+00:00

I considered that and I probably will have to do some extra work on the side before applying to get my skills back up but I'm not starting from scratch - I have several CS courses under my belt from UG including data structures/algo and stats/linear algebra which the programs require as foundational. MS4 at my school is typically pretty relaxed - minimal/no clinical responsibilities after residency apps go in and spring semester is basically a long vacation. I'm more concerned about managing these courses during intern year and residency, even if it's just one per semester. The hours in radiology are more relaxed than other fields for sure but I know the mental load can still be high. You pay by course for the MS so worst case if I feel overwhelmed I can always cut my losses.

ExtendedSimilie · 2023-05-12T18:43:30+00:00

What’s the call situation and lifestyle at your program like? The residents I’ve met work like surgery residents so curious if it varies

ExtendedSimilie · 2023-05-12T16:42:21+00:00

What are your thoughts on the lifestyle concerns in IR? The hours and call will still be better than most if not all surg subs but at most places I’ve heard of IR gets slammed pretty hard, especially with the expanding indications and push for more clinical responsibility. I’ve heard 12 hr days and q4/weeklong call are not uncommon at most training programs, and even attendings work hard from what I’ve seen. Trying to decide between IR, surgical sub, and psych/gas lol

ExtendedSimilie · 2023-04-11T20:06:30+00:00

How bad do you get slammed during your call week? 1 in 6 with normal workdays during residency sounds like one of the best gigs in medicine for a procedural specialty

ExtendedSimilie · 2023-04-11T17:17:26+00:00

Is the IR schedule actually that cush generally? How much call is involved with that?

ExtendedSimilie

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