Tag: Lifestyle

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Don’t Let Significant Life Events Interrupt Residency!

significant life events

Many of you are guaranteed to have significant life events during your four years. Marriage, family crises, car accidents, and sickness are all part of life. And a four-year period of time is a large enough amount for something huge to change in your life. But, with the daily grind of residency, all these life events can become significantly more complicated. Who has time to be able to leave work at a moment while you are dealing with of myriad of possible life issues? So, what are some of the primary steps you can take to prevent your life from interfering with your work? How can you make sure to preserve your integrity within a radiology residency while these events happen during your radiology residency? Some of these obligations seem like common sense, but this is an excellent checklist for radiology residents. These steps can be easy to forget when life throws you a curveball.

Notify Relevant Faculty

You may be in an uproar because of a challenging event. However, most of your faculty will be understanding. If you are not going to be around because you need to go to court or a funeral, most faculty and attendings will understand. Additionally, you won’t be leaving them in the dust when you don’t show up for work at that time.

Get Coverage

By that same token as above, if you are not going to be around, try to find someone that can take your place if you need coverage for whatever rotation you are on. Now that you are a resident, you need to take responsibility for your actions, and getting coverage shows that you can handle the job.

Find Times That Don’t Interfere With Patient Care

OK. It is certainly not possible to change the time of a funeral. However, you can usually make many critical phone calls, heated conversations, and necessary appointments at times that don’t interfere with patient care. It is merely polite and appropriate to do so. Imagine you were the patient on the other end listening to a personal phone call from your doctor. That whole situation could be a bit embarrassing.

Try To Plan Events With Significant Notice

You can plan some significant life events with notice. Marriages, engagement parties, and meetings to discuss a will don’t have to occur in the middle of a typical workday. Try to plan these events well in advance, so they don’t have to interfere with your training and patient care.

Don’t Assume Everyone Knows Your Significant Life Events

When you are stressed out, not everyone may appreciate your situation. If you feel comfortable telling your colleagues and staff what is appropriate to divulge, let them know what is happening. Most folks will have some empathy for what you are going through at the time. It may even bring you closer to your residency. Most residencies are kind of like a family. Conflicts can arise when people in the family don’t know the issues.

Stay At Home If It Is Needed

Especially nowadays, since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, most faculty have become more sensitive to the issue of staying home if sick or can’t function appropriately at work. And, every once in a while, there is nothing wrong with taking a mental health day. If it makes you able to come back to work soon with renewed strength and attention, it may be worth the day or two that you need for yourself.

Dealing With Significant Life Events During Residency

Four years is a relatively long time to be anywhere, let alone a residency. And personal disasters and happy life occasions/milestones are destined to occur. Some of these events will distract you from the focus of your training. Nevertheless, try to mitigate the effects by following some of these guidelines. Simply telling folks the issues, getting coverage, and finding times to take care of business can make a difference. Following these guidelines allow you to look responsible. And they are ways to ensure that your residency will run more smoothly and without bogging you down with miscommunications and problems during radiology residency. Life interruptions don’t have to ruin your residency experience!

 

 

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Residency Is Not The Time To Live Far Away!

live far away

It’s about that time of the year. You have recently matched into your internship or are about to move on to your radiology residency. And, it’s time to choose a place to live. You are probably not sure about the areas; many choices await you or your loved ones. Do you move close to your residency where not much happens? Or, do you live in a more cultural part of town? How about living closer to where you and your spouse want to be? How much should you spend? Is the area safe around the hospital where you are going to work? Many of you will face these questions over the next several months as you start your search for a place.

Out of all those questions, what is the most critical decision? Of course, you can stare at the title and probably come up with the conclusion! But, it is true. Make sure to prioritize living reasonably close to your residency site. Let me give you some good reasons for making this a significant priority during residency.

Every Minute On The Road Reduces Your Time To Study And Family Time

Time is one of your most valuable commodities as a radiology resident. You need it to study, spend time with family, and accomplish all the goals you set out to do. However, the farther you decide to live, the less time you will have for fitting all these critical activities into your schedule. Especially when you have very little, to begin with. Does it matter if there are tons of theaters nearby if you can rarely get to them because you need to study for your boards? Probably not!

Paying Up Now To Be Closer May Make The Difference Between Owing More Later!

If living close to the hospital costs more, it may pay for itself eventually. Let me explain. Living far away has many additional costs. Remember you have to factor in other expenses as well. There is the gas price (now at a record high!). And, of course, there is also the price of not passing the boards because you do not have the time to study. So, consider keeping close to the residency program site if you can!

If You Live Far Away, The More Exhausted You Will Be

Trust me. This factor is critical. I used to drive an hour or hour and a half to get back and forth to work. And, you don’t realize the tax that your will body will encounter with all that driving time. Traffic can become very frustrating. And, there is always a risk of getting into an accident late at night when on call.

Moreover, sitting for so long is not so great for you either. It’s a recipe for bad health and exhaustion. You can avoid all this by renting nearby!

More Things To Do, More Distractions!

Perhaps, you will have lots to do when you live in the city’s heart, possibly far from your residency program. But, that may come at the expense of the time you will need to study and participate in the residency program. Distractions can take a toll on the constant need that you will have to learn radiology. So, consider this when you make your final decision about where to live.

Emergencies Happen 

And, finally, of course, invariably, you will have emergencies at work that will happen. Maybe you forget your bag at work. Or, you need to help to cover a colleague. Whatever the case may be, it can be very challenging to take care of these events when you live far from the hospital!

Don’t Live Far Away During Residency!

Residency is a time to hunker down and complete all the requirements you need to succeed in your prospective field. Why jeopardize your future by making it more difficult for yourself now? Living far away can reduce the time for work and life, increase expenses, augment exhaustion and distractions, and make it much more difficult in an emergency. So, if you have to pick the most critical issue about selecting a place to live, it is to live closer to your new job. It will make a world of difference!

 

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Is Radiology Still A Lifestyle Specialty?

lifestyle specialty

Many of you have probably heard about the classic acronym for choosing a lifestyle specialty called ROAD: Radiology, Ophthalmology, Anesthesiology, and Dermatology. But does radiology still belong in this acronym? Or should we entirely discard this as an ancient historical quirk? (Those days fifty years ago when we only used X-ray, nuclear medicine, and ultrasound!) So, let’s look at the criteria that should make up a lifestyle specialty, including the amount of time that you need to work, the amount of money that you can make, the amount of stress in your daily work life, and the flexibility of living and working where you want when you want. Then, let’s go through whether we, as radiology specialists, can still meet the criteria for a lifestyle specialty and compare it to others. And finally, let’s give the radiology specialty a final grade.

Grading Criterion For Radiology As A Lifestyle Specialty

Hours

This first criterion is a bit hard to pin down. Why? Because it all depends on how much time you want to put into your career. I know folks who want to care for their children, work three or four days a week, and never take a weekend call. (Of course, you pay for that!) Then, others want to spend lots of extra time to be the breadwinner for the family. But, if you take the average radiologist and the average week, most are on the job more than they would like to admit. We can have long days that can easily breach ten or eleven hours if the work becomes busy. Yet, not all days are like that. So, the average radiologist works a nine-hour shift five days a week.

However, we have a little more vacation than most other specialties. And part of that is a historical quirk. Back in the day, around the beginning of the twentieth century, many radiologists became sick from radiation sickness’s harmful effects. Therefore, they tended to have more vacation time to compensate. Flash forward to today, and you will still find radiologists with a bit more vacation than most (even though our jobs do not expose radiologists to as much radiation). 

Unfortunately, that time may not be during the holidays and summer weeks because hospitals need our services twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And some poor radiologist needs to cover! To average it all out, if I had to give a grade to this criteria, I would call it a B-. The extra vacation would boost our report card as opposed to other specialties. But, I am dinging us for the constant need for radiologists to work. If you had to compare our hours to other medical areas, others would work shorter and easier days with less vacation time. So, I certainly could not give us an A. But, yet we don’t have constant patient care like some internal medicine and surgical docs. B- minus seems reasonable to me!

Money

Money is a much easier criterion to define because we can base that number on a per-hour basis. And we can always harken back to our favorite medical specialty salary survey at Medscape. It’s a quick and dirty way to compare the average specialist’s salary for most medical specialties. The 2020 Medscape survey quoted the average radiology salary as the fifth most highly paid specialty out of twenty-nine at 427,000 dollars annually. So, that is in the top 20th percentile. For that reason, I can easily substantiate the grade of an A-. We are certainly not paid as much as the majority of Orthopedics and Neurosurgeons. But, indeed, we are nowhere near the salary of most pediatricians!

Stress

Ahh. This criterion is also highly variable, depending on your subspecialty. Some folks are purely outpatient and work in very cush environments or at home. And other folks are bombarded continuously with ER cases and stat procedures like neuro-interventionalists. However, as a whole, we typically don’t have to perseverate on phones with insurance companies like other subspecialties (I consider that one of the most significant stressors!) Yet, all of us are getting tons of phone calls. Moreover, we can enact actual harm to patients because what we say matters significantly to patient care, including life and death (a cause for aggravation and lawsuits!).

So, let’s compare it to other specialties. Dermatologists don’t have as many life-and-death decisions. Yet, ob/gynecologists, surgeons, and internal medicine docs have much more aggravations with insurance companies and uncompliant patients. So, I will give our specialty a B-, a standard average grade.

Flexibility

Now, if I had to pick one area where we excel, it is flexibility. We can live where we want, work when we want, be academic or private, and see patients or not see patients as we wish. I can’t think of any other specialties with our far-reaching flexibility for types of work as a radiologist. We can live and work in the country or the city. You can work on the weekends only or during the nights or days. Or, we can rarely see a patient again (especially as a teleradiologist!)

In this department, we beat out pretty much all the specialties. Not one even comes close to radiology when it comes to flexibility! I would have to give this criterion an A+.

Is Radiology A Lifestyle Specialty: The Final Conclusion

So, let’s give all our grades a weighted average and pretend we are still in college. Here is a post with the conversion info!

Hours: B- or 2.7

Money: A- or 3.7

Stress: B- or 2.7

Flexibility: A+ or 4.0

Drum roll, please. If you average out our grades based on these criteria, you get a final grade of 3.275, just a little shy of a B+. But let’s call it a B+, for argument’s sake. Do you think that still makes a lifestyle specialty? I think so. But, perhaps, not as much as you might have thought at first! It’s not an A!

Want to learn more about the specialty of radiology and the training involved? Check out my book on Amazon. And click on the link below. (I am an affiliate of Amazon as well!)

 

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Can I Discuss Lifestyle On Interviews?

lifestyle

We all want to know about lifestyle when we interview for residency, fellowship, and beyond. But, many of us are afraid we will offend the sensibility of the interviewer. Will he think I’m lazy? Will she believe I will take too much vacation if I work here? I’m sure at one point, or another, these thoughts have crossed your mind.

So, in what context, can you ask these questions? And, is it ever appropriate to grill your interviewer about the lifestyle that she leads in her job? I mean that likely is one of the reasons why you are taking the position there. Or, at least, you don’t want to let on that is the reason why you are taking the job, right?

Once again I aim to please. Accordingly, I am going to delve into the hornet’s nest of the discussion of lifestyle on an interview. At what point should you avoid it at all costs? When is it appropriate to discuss? And, finally, how should you address it and what should you say?

When To Avoid Discussion Of Lifestyle

In general, unless under special circumstances, you should not broach the topic of lifestyle on that initial outing when you interview for an attending job. Think of the first interview as a “get-to-know-you” session. First and foremost, you want to discover if the place of work matches your expectations for what you want. Typically, once you introduce the subject of lifestyle issue during that first interview, you have opened a can of worms. You are saying; essentially, lifestyle is more critical than the working environment. Most likely, you do not want to relay that message on first sight!

Likewise, as a resident, most often it is inappropriate to ask an attending about lifestyle issues as a resident. First, faculty tend to know less about the day-to-day lifestyle issues of residents. So, it shows poor insight when you ask the attending about how and where they live. Try to direct these questions to a more appropriate source, your future colleagues, the residents within a program.

And finally, sometimes, you discover that you are interviewing with a person who does not seem to want to answer questions about lifestyle. Perhaps, this person is awkward or is a bit off. Is that the sort of person, you want to ask about lifestyle anyway?

When Is It Appropriate?

Of course, as an attending interviewing for a job, you need to find out more information. So, wait a bit. Get a feel for the practice. If you have already had your first interview, then you can start thinking about lifestyle questions. Vacation and call issues become more important once you have established that this place may work for you.

Or, perhaps, you are sitting down at the table at lunch with future resident colleagues. This time would be perfect for broaching the topic of lifestyle. Do residents always eat together? That’s certainly an appropriate question at this point in the day.

And then finally, sometimes the interviewer may ask you a question that can lead you into discussing a lifestyle issue. For instance, he may want to know how you tend to enjoy your vacations. That could appropriately stimulate discussion on the topic since the interviewer essentially permitted you to discuss it.

Best Way To Address The Issue

Once you have established that you think that you will fit in with a residency or practice, it pays to be tactfully forthcoming. At that point, you can ask the interviewer if they receive extra “administration” or half days. Or, you can find out about which days may lead to easier rotations. The information that you collect from this place may further inform your decision down the road to choose where you want to work. Use your best judgment. You have gotten this far!

If you feel less comfortable, you can also always sidle your way into the conversation. A statement like the following For instance, after you see a picture of the radiologist in Bora Bora on the reading desk, the following statement would undoubtedly work- “I see that you like to go away to Bora-Bora. How often do you take that trip?” That would be a non-offensive way of beginning to broach the topic. And, it can lead to more detailed information.

Another non-intrusive question that I like and can work to get a feel for the “corporate culture”: “Do the partners/residents like to go to dinners together?”. This question establishes whether or not the partners get along well enough to host events together.

Bottom Line About Discussing Lifestyle On Interviews

Understanding the corporate lifestyle is a critical piece of data that you need to decide whether the radiology practice or residency works for you. Nevertheless, it can become a sensitive topic. Delivered at the wrong time, it can relay a lousy impression that may prevent you from getting that next great position.  So, be sure that you mention the subject at the appropriate time to the correct individual. And phrase these questions non-offensively. Tread lightly, my friends!

 

 

 

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What Is The Best Specialty For A Lazy Radiologist?

lazy radiologist

Question:

Hi,
Which is the radiology subspecialty with the best lifestyle and shortest/least taxing work hours? And how about lifestyle in body imaging?

From,

The lazy radiologist .

Answer:

I love the question. Why? Because it reflects the purpose of my website: To get answers that no one else will give you!

In any case, as you may know, if you want to make good money, radiology is no longer a lifestyle specialty. Imaging volumes are up, and very few imaging centers will hire someone that cannot keep up with the work. And, if you are the owner of a practice, you will undoubtedly need to work hard. But, if you are willing to take lower pay and not work as an owner, then numerous lifestyle opportunities abound. Of course, you can always decide to work part-time three days a week and have a great lifestyle as a lazy radiologist! Most specialties will allow you to work part-time depending on the practice where you choose to look.

OK. So, let’s say that you are interested in working full time and want a relative lifestyle subspecialty. My recommendation to you would be to find something in the outpatient imaging sector. Typically, hospitals and urgent care centers that need radiologists to work on call will be significantly busier and will require you to work on off hours. And, being busy disrupts the whole lazy radiologist lifestyle thing!

Then, what are some of those specialties that are more conducive to outpatient imaging? My first thought would be breast imaging. First of all, you will find very few breast emergencies and call scenarios for a breast imager. Unfortunately, the daily volume of work can be difficult if you want to make a significant amount of dough. But, at least you may not have to take call!

What else? Teleradiology gigs will allow you to work on your own time when you want. Some of them have “dayhawk” needs. In this situation, you can have the ultimate flexibility if you decide upon this field. But, then again some teleradiology firms want night workers. That may not fit the bill for what you want so don’t choose that pathway if so! 

Also, MSK imaging is not a bad choice for lifestyle-oriented radiologists. MR MSK imaging tends to be an outpatient phenomenon. And, you can find some outpatient centers willing to take on an MSK radiologist.

Body imaging would not be my first thought as a lifestyle specialty because most practices have expectations for you to read lots of studies and to do lots of procedures. Also, most practices will expect you to take call. However, certain workplaces do allow for a better lifestyle than others. You can find them if you look although they may not be lifestyle-oriented in the most “desirable” cities. (That’s just the way it is!)

Most other subspecialties also involve significant amounts of work and time. But, as you get on in years, you may also have more flexibility in choosing a more lifestyle-oriented pathway as well. For instance, many interventionalists become diagnostic rads and so and so forth. So, there is no reason why you can’t choose to change your “lifestyle” pathway along the way.

Finally, remember. To be good at anything takes a lot of work. So, you may need to sacrifice being a real expert for lifestyle. That’s just the way it is!

Hope that helps a bit,

Barry Julius, MD

 

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Radiology Resident- Get Up and Move It!!!

Sitting can be hazardous to your health. Just take a look at some of the article headlines and links from major news organizations- CNN, CBS, Huffington Post. And, the list goes on…

What do we picture radiologists doing all day? Unfortunately, the stereotype is that radiologists are sitters; we are on a comfy chair near a diagnostic workstation, powering through loads of studies. There’s some truth to that. In fact, I can almost guarantee that you will gain that freshman fifteen pounds during your first year of residency if you follow the typical work schedule without modifying your behavior. That’s the bad news.  The good news is that there are ways to circumvent the habit of sitting down for long periods of time, even as a radiologist.

And, since residents are early in their career, it is easier to start forming habits that will potentially last a lifetime. So, here are some suggestions to conquer the ills of long-term sitting, whether you are a radiology resident at work or at home.

1. Stand Up

Many desks these days allow you to complete your work while standing. In fact, we have several workstations dedicated to the standing radiologist in our own department, although unfortunately not enough.

But, let’s say that this option is not available. What can you do to remind yourself to get up? I recommend either a watch timer or an Apple Watch. Regularly, I get messages on my watch to tell me to stand up. It can be occasionally annoying, but it usually does the trick even though there are times I am unable to get out of my seat.

Additionally, little things help. Instead of texting your colleagues, consider getting up and having a conversation with someone. Instead of calling the technologist to complete a study, get up and tell them. These are ways you establish connections with people and lessen the amount of time you are sitting during the day.

2. Get the most calorie burn out of your workspace

Whenever I am at work, I always think about ways to maximize my body’s workload. Think about calorie-burning activities like banning the word elevator from your vocabulary. In fact, the only time I take the elevator is when there is a “wet paint” sign on the stairs. Using the stairs is a great way to burn those extra calories

Take a long way around to get to your next meeting or conference, whether it means going outside or visiting your colleagues. Just remember to leave your workstation a little bit earlier!

3. Get that heart rate up- find a new activity you can stick with!

Any activity that doesn’t interest or excite me, I find difficult to stick with. And, I think it is easy to extrapolate the same to others. So, find something that increases your heart rate, but most importantly find an exercise routine that you enjoy. And, it is crucial to do so. Remember, radiologists sit down more than most other professions and you certainly don’t want to add home sitting time to your total.

For instance, I started running several years ago and have continued diligently only because I look forward to the run. Why? It’s very simple. I have my iPad set up to watch Netflix and HBOGO shows that I find hard to watch without interruptions by just sitting down. Some of the series that I have gone through include Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, House of Cards, and Mad Men, among many others. So, I really look forward to my time on the treadmill.

Also, you may want to find activities that intrinsically interest you because you are learning something new, whether it be physical, mental, or practical. I have recently taken up Tae Kwon Do and have found it to be a great way to build up my stamina, flexibility, and coordination. Each lesson I take, I find that I am learning new things and want to come back for the next time. Some of that enjoyment certainly stems from the great instruction I receive locally from Ko’s Tae Kwon Do with Grand Master Ko.

Get Up And Move It!

Getting out there and moving is especially important as a radiologist because of the increased sedentary lifestyle and the years that you can potentially lose due it’s health consequences. So, make a concerted effort to get up and move!!!