Veterinary medicine trades in the grossest things. While working in an inner city human ER may best veterinary medicine on the “dirty job” meter, that’s only because of the presence of the microscopic filth that can kill you. I think my profession is way more disgusting––grossly, anyway.
That’s why my pre-teen son worries he might not be able to hack a distinguished career in veterinary medicine.
A couple of months ago, he asked––in grave tones––whether he could realistically become a well-paid veterinarian without suffering the stench of rotting abscesses, expressing anal glands and watching pets die on a regular basis. Oh, and add minimal client exposure to the list. Given that kind of wish list, I quickly responded, “Sure. Become a veterinary radiologist.”
A radiologist still has to get through the clinical trials of vet school, of course. But the truth is that it’s easier to power through when your eyes are focused on a prize of much-higher-than-average pay and a wealth of clinical options:
Interventional radiology uses your mad computer game skills. CT scans and MRIs are way cool to undertake. X-rays can be a work of art. And radiation therapy can be soooo rewarding. All that, and you’re never the number one on the case. Though your work is crucial to the patient’s outcome, you seldom have to suffer the direct stress of client interaction and pet death. (And you can still pet the puppies and kitties all you want.)
The hard part? Getting into a residency program. Just as in human medicine, veterinary radiology is slowly becoming a competitive alternative to standard clinical practice. And it’s not just about the pay and the one-step-removed psychological advantages––it’s also about the lifestyle.
Depending on the version of radiology you want to specialize in, much of your work can be done remotely. Satellite hook-up in Costa Rica sounds nice, right? It’s doable. And still lucrative. As long as you’re good at what you do, you can do it in style (from a sailboat in the Pacific, perhaps?) depending on your choice of radiological sub-specialty, of course.
Clearly, the attractions of radiology are many. And it’s becoming more popular now that telemedicine is in widespread usage and general practitioner demand for second-opinion interpretation services is up (I use them frequently).
Despite the draws and its increasing popularity among those seeking advanced training, veterinary radiology is still far away from the human side when it comes to recruiting droves of candidates competing for a small number of spots. While most young physicians would kill for a slot in radiology, when it comes to veterinarians...not so much. The overwhelming majority of us still want to play at being a James Herriot in all his glory...and grossness.
I find it interesting that with the disgusting toll vet medicine can take, with all the stress inherent to public interaction, with all the suffering we have to bear witness to, radiology hasn’t yet made the big leagues (popularity-wise) in vet medicine.
Among specialists, surgery still ranks highest (and most competitive). Oncology and internal medicine come next. And yet many of the surgeons, oncologsts and internists I know say the same thing: “I kinda wish I’d gone into radiology.”
So a radiologist it is, says my son. Now all I have to do is find a way to help him finance it on my single-mom, general practitioner’s income. Sigh...
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Radiology is such an important care of veterinary care. But maybe it's still not as pursued as human radiology because the exams are really expensive down the line. While we pay a $15 copay to have an MRI done with human health insurance, we have to pay $2,000 for an MRi for a dog. So, many people just skip it and pay only for surgery. Even if you get insurance for your pet, you will still pay a lot for the exam, depending on the kind of plan you have. Vet insurance doesn't work the same way human health insurance does.
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Daniela Caride August 24th, 2009 02:14:29 PM
Daniela: On vet insurance: It often DOES pay for MRIs and CTs. You're right, it does depend on the plan. But it more often depends on the company. Check out petinsurancereview.com for reviews and plan/company offerings. You might be surprised. Oh, and sometimes not approximating human health insurance is a GOOD thing.
You should also know that much of what radiologists do involves simple reading of X-rays that regular vets like me take. now that digital radiography is affordable to us, many clients are willing to pay an extra $20-$50 to have their X-rays interpreted by a specialist. To accomplish this, all we GPs have to do is email the images and wait for a response. Some vets are even raising the price of their X-rays so that every single X-ray is read by a radiologist––as it's done in human medicine. Smart, if you ask me. It's a great way to do more for your clients at a pretty reasonable rate.
Dr. Patty Khuly August 24th, 2009 02:28:41 PM
Dr. Khuly, First of all , I'd like to say it is commendable that your son wants to emulate you & your profession. Obviously, you have shown him the rewarding and interesting positive side. And already well versed to the financial aspect, hoping he "could realistically become a well-paid". I think most youngsters today weigh opportunity & financial independence against effort & costs. Not as much of a consideration back when I was his age.
He has to get through an awful lot of stink & disgusting visions before the good part though!
Only time will tell, and fortunately your son has plenty before a heavy duty commitment, whether the specialized services with attached price tag will be widely embraced by the public. Today, my guess would be an emphatic "no", but with a good economy on the horizon & change of status of companions in the legal sense, I would say it looks good.
Personally, after all was said & done, and had to do again, I would have eliminated the MRI prior to Pearl's surgery all together. The only benefit was how long to make the incision , the regular x-ray & GP interpretation was accurate enough.
And then I remind myself of Bill, who had a series of back x-rays read by a radiologist, with a diagnosis of "zero", and upon HIS insistence went for an MRI to discover broken vertebrae (the prong part).
I'm reminded of a few other things all having to do with Pocket's x-ray & u/s and the certified vs. non-certified vets & radiologists, but that isn't what this discussion is about.
Barbara A. Albright/NH August 24th, 2009 04:57:27 PM
One warning though ... many jobs that can easily be done remotely are moving to lower cost countries ... first call centers, now computer programming, accounting, legal research, ... Increasingly these are jobs that require a high level of education.
That might not be an issue now for veterinary radiology, but might be a concern for 10 or 15 years in the future.
Debbie Ogg August 24th, 2009 05:18:28 PM
Debbie: Great point. The reality is that Israel, Europe, Australia and perhaps Argentina are the only places where veterinary education approximates our own on the small animal side. Until other countries begin adopting US-style standards, I seriously doubt we'll have the same kind of competition.
Moreover, veterinary medicine in the US has a way of interpreting everything that happens in the human medical profession as a cautionary tale. So until Medicare-type standards start dictating price, I seriously doubt we'll be seeing cow vets in Afghanistan interpreting our veterinary rads. ;-)
Dr. Patty Khuly August 24th, 2009 05:32:00 PM
I'm in my 30s and going back to school to study veterinary medicine. As a child, my mother, a Registered Nurse, always urged me to become a radiologist. She made it sound like radiology was the field she would have gone into in hindsight. Granted, she was talking about human medicine not animal, but this article can't help but remind me of her comments.
www.jennbenn.com August 24th, 2009 05:47:06 PM
Jennbenn: Gotta agree that insiders love radiology. It's such a humane career. And so much more interesting and rewarding than being an actuary (for example, because it gets high marks for "career comfort"). btw, that excludes veterinary actuaries like Laura Bennet over at Embrace Pet Insurance. Her career sounds cool to me. But then, I believe she's the only veterinary actuary on the planet.
Dr. Patty Khuly August 24th, 2009 05:52:52 PM
Just came back from visiting a surgeon friend in a rural hospital that doesn't have a radiologist on staff.. They either email the images, or she reads them herself.
Where there is a will, there is a way..
Please encourage your son to go into vetinary medicine..
I would also advise general practice.. Have you ever noticed that your days go very fast? Think what it would be like looking at films all day ..
barri August 24th, 2009 08:26:15 PM
barri: Baby steps...
Dr. Patty Khuly August 24th, 2009 09:16:45 PM
I think the blood, pus and guts can make the most interesting days!!! What kind of girl does that make me :)
JC August 24th, 2009 10:40:57 PM
I think I may be like your son, albeit a lot of years past my pre-teen age. I want to do veterinary science but have worries about the "gross" ness of the profession. I've looked into plenty of different routes but hadn't yet touched upon the specialization of radiology. Thank you for the interesting blog, I'll make sure to remember that a career in veterinary science is immensely diverse. If your son is interested I've come across this good summary of the different types of veterinarians at work: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008350 For me, I am currently working with research animals and find it to be very exciting stuff, so I am looking into a career path in veterinary research, ostensibly a lesser "gross" of the veterinarian practices i believe?
Randi Do August 24th, 2009 11:46:33 PM
Hmm I haven't qualified yet but I'll look into this! It's lovely your son wants to follow in your footsteps! It's a good job in the UK my parents don't have to finance my veterinary education or I wouldn't ever be a vet...
Sian August 25th, 2009 05:09:32 AM
JC: I wonder about that myself...especially since I happen to LOVE a good cat bite abscess. But maggots? Not so much. Blech!
Thanks Randi. And Sian...jealously consumes me... ;-)
Dr. Patty Khuly August 25th, 2009 06:39:05 AM
Life generally is so very much less gross than it was a few decades ago. I'll bet the gross factor is becoming a bigger issue for young people choosing careers since they just don't get exposed to as much gross-ness early in life.
We had a little incident yesterday morning resulting in a dog bite to my Shiba, hematoma, drain; Shiba promptly tears out drain and freaks out vet and staff... My newly minted vet, eyes the size of saucers, afraid I'm going to "lose it" and/or be disturbed by the blood. All I could do was apologize for not warning her of some relevant Shiba attributes: they wake up fast from sedation and they come up fighting. Takes quite a bit of gross-ness to get to me and blood isn't even in that category. Maggots and slugs I'm neurtal on. Now, leeches and worms, ick!
PJBoosinger August 25th, 2009 07:51:16 AM
Your post made me wish i had gone into veterinary radiology
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