Physician optimism: What do you think about your specialty?

How optimistic are physicians about their specialties? A Medscape survey that asked doctors to rank their specialties in the short- and long-term found that specialties like internal medicine ranked among the lowest. Here’s a look at the data.

Physician optimism: three-year outlook

When asked about the future, 16 of the 29 specialties surveyed said they were optimistic about the next three years.

Radiologists were the most hopeful about their specialty, with 69% expressing optimism. Oncologists were close behind, with 67% saying they were optimistic about the next three years.

Internal medicine ranked the third-lowest, with only 27% expressing optimism about their specialty’s future over the next three years. Among nephrologists, only 22% said they were optimistic about the future.

Medscape’s analysis noted that between the most and the least optimistic specialties, there was a 47% gap.

Here’s a look at optimism by specialties over the next three years.

Physician optimism over the next three years: top seven specialties

Radiology: 69%.

Oncology: 67%.

Otolaryngology: 66%.

Psychiatry: 63%.

Pathology: 60%.

Cardiology: 59%.

Gastroenterology: 58%.

Seven most pessimistic specialties: short-term view

Public Health/Preventive Medicine: 46%.

Nephrology: 43%.

Infectious Diseases: 37%.

Ob/Gyn: 37%.

Pediatrics: 37%.

Family Medicine: 33%.

Internal Medicine: 35%.

Long-term pessimism by physicians

When asked about the long-term future for the Medscape survey, ob/gyns were the most pessimistic, with 50% saying they were worried about the future of their specialty three years out. Internal medicine was the second most pessimistic specialty, with 47% worried about the long-term future.

Physicians gave various reasons for their pessimism. One pediatrician, for example, noted that being part of one of the lowest-paying specialties in American medicine leaves “a very bleak outlook for the future.” Another physician predicted that “primary care will be taken over by AI in a year or two.”

Seven most pessimistic physician specialties about the long-term

Ob/Gyn: 50%.

Internal Medicine: 47%.

Family Medicine: 44%.

Emergency Medicine: 44%.

Nephrology: 43%.

Pediatrics: 42%.

General Surgery: 40%.

Which specialties will appeal to younger generations?

When asked which specialties, not just their own, will appeal to medical students and residents over the next three years, more than half of physicians identified dermatology and orthopedics.

Most physicians (71%) considered factors like “potential compensation” key in attracting the next generation of physicians. Work-life balance was identified by 57% by physicians as key to attracting new physicians. Reimbursement was identified by 53% and career prospects/job security was identified by 45%.

One physician responding to the survey said that nephrology could be attractive to new physicians because the field is data-driven and incorporating technology like AI and telehealth for conditions like CKD.

Interestingly, most physicians in the survey (60%) said that new physicians likely don’t have the information they need to choose a specialty while they’re still in medical school or training.

Which specialties will appeal to new physicians in the next three years?

Dermatology: 54%.

Orthopedics: 54%.

Cardiology: 34%.

Anesthesiology: 34%.

Plastic Surgery: 31%.

Radiology: 27%.

Emergency Medicine: 27%.

Would you go into medicine again?

Despite the pessimism expressed by many physicians in the survey, 73% said they would choose to become a physician again and 76% said they would choose the same specialty again.

In this part of the survey, the biggest regret was practice setting. Only 30% of physicians said they would choose the same practice setting, and 18% said they wouldn’t choose medicine at all.

For more data on how physicians view the future of their specialties, see Medscape’s analysis of its survey data. 

The post Physician optimism: What do you think about your specialty? appeared first on Today's Hospitalist.