How much do doctors/dentists make?

[bigheadache99]

Originally posted by James@Jan 28 2006, 01:26 PM
- With med, when you get to consultant level, or are working as a gp, chances are you will have a decent income of at least $150k although as mentioned previously there are a number of disadvantages.
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But then again, if you're running your own business, chances are you will never leave your work, such as having a look over something about it at 9pm at night (like my Dad is now) so really, you're working longer hours than anyone. Medicine doesn't seem so bad after all.

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Now that's refreshing honesty.

It is certainly quite okay to admit that getting into Medicine is invariably a great financial decision no matter how you cut it. Medical doctors are at the top end of the socio-economic hierarchy be it in Asia, Africa or the West. And the money & power are what really make medicine so great and the "sacrifices" of youth really worth it. Otherwise, there simply wouldn't be so much competition for admission anywhere. Mankind hasn't really evolved to become that altruistic a species yet. Medicine is proverbially like a lottery ticket that you have to put it some years of your life to gain lifelong & awesome dividends. To Med Hopefuls: Everything is swell as long as one keeps all these facts to oneself before a med interview.

I read a book @ Borders recently about doctor pay. Intern salaries described here are spot-on. GP pays are on average AUD$120K - AUD$250K. Dermatologists, cardiologists & plastic surgeons earn way over AUD$250K on average. Psychiatrists are paid the lowest.

 

[limitless77]

Originally posted by dr mal occlusion@Jan 28 2006, 11:51 PM
You got the disadvantages part correct....those three day weekends really take some getting used to...

  No but seriously, I would love to know what disadvantages you think dentistry has over medicine.  The only one I can think of is the course is a lot tougher.  But once you're out dentistry beats medicine hands down when it comes to $$$ and working hours.

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haha i agree dent is awesome. For me the advantages out number the disadvantages any day (assuming there are any disadvantages ). I always wonder why many people say dent doesn't deal with a wide number of problems, i am aware that there are heaps of specialties in dentistry that entail numerous procedures and skills. Of course I'm not hundred percent sure so correct me if I am wrong.

 

[kevin]

Sacrifices? There is no need for sacrificing anything unless you have that mindset

 

[hachoo]

I saw in the paper, GPs can get $2000 a day, meaning 5 days a week, thats $10000 x 40 ish?

Thats $400000 if you're not so slack.

 

[Shizzy]

Yeah but then deduct costs to pay for ur practice, pretty hefty whack right there, then take off some tax too and its not such a giant number. Still decent no doubt. And i bet those GPs see alot of patients.

 

[bigheadache99]

Originally posted by kevin@Mar 27 2007, 11:45 AM
Sacrifices? There is no need for sacrificing anything unless you have that mindset

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Hehheh.. indeed, that's medicospeak - "sacrifice". It is a term often bandied about to make the road to mega-bucks/opportunities seem more epic, noble and touching. I'd personally call it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a wonderful exchange.

Simply can't understand why some folks "complain" abt having to train "hard" for 6-8+ years after med sch grad. before seeing any big moolahs. Think abt this way: would you rather have 6-8 years of stable employment & growing salary+skillset that pretty much guarantees your future prospects or slogging away at some corp. as a faceless number, working stiff and with the way things are at the moment - waiting to be retrenched/made redundant unexpectedly? And my young audience, getting ahead as a company salary man is not a matter of what you know/can do or how smart or qualified you're but who you know and probably are sleeping with. From my humble exp., I won't be surprised if the competition is far stiffer and meaner than anything in med-sch with folks generally ending up far more wretched.

Gimme the "long & arduous" medico's (or similar) path anytime. It's time well spent I'd reckon.

 

[hachoo]

Originally posted by Shizzy@Mar 27 2007, 10:34 PM
Yeah but then deduct costs to pay for ur practice, pretty hefty whack right there, then take off some tax too and its not such a giant number. Still decent no doubt. And i bet those GPs see alot of patients.

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The ad was for a GP, not for one with their own practice.

If they lopped off 50% of that, I still wouldn't be complaining

 

[Shizzy]

True. Same here

 

[bigheadache99]

Originally posted by hachoo@Mar 27 2007, 11:51 AM
I saw in the paper, GPs can get $2000 a day, meaning 5 days a week, thats $10000 x 40 ish?

Thats $400000 if you're not so slack.

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I have only ever seen such godly sums for short-term GP locums with ob p/g.
Are you sure it is for a perm. full-time position?

 

[squid]

I was talking to the representative of the board of neurosurgeons from RACS the other day at prince of wales hospital...(he didn't mention money... ) but said how ****e the hours were, esp for registrars, who have to do about 120 hours per week during their training, and how much he had to sacrifice to get into the training program. At his time, there were only 15 neurosurgeons in Australia, nowadays, theres like 120, with more grads each year...He said how much the career destroys your personal life, and he said that he would rather be doing work as a computer software developer. Obviously, money isn't the most important thing in life. He's also a researcher, and said that while he slowly retires from surgery, he will continue his research, which gave him longer satisfaction- although prob not much in terms of pay.

 

[hachoo]

Originally posted by bigheadache99@Mar 27 2007, 11:01 PM
I have only ever seen such godly sums for short-term GP locums with ob p/g.
Are you sure it is for a perm. full-time position?

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The ad was very small, giving no details on whether it was p/t or f/t. It just gave contact details. I wouldn't know for sure unless I rang the number myself, or checked careerone.

 

[AussieChica]

120 hours per week

There are only 168 hours in a week. You're telling me they would have 48 hours per week, less than 7 hours per day, to eat, sleep, shower, change, have "me" time, family time, friends time, etc.
Yet another reason why I don't want to be a neurosurgeon

 

[houda]

Originally posted by bigheadache99@Mar 27 2007, 12:31 PM
I have only ever seen such godly sums for short-term GP locums with ob p/g.
Are you sure it is for a perm. full-time position?

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same here, most gps earn about 250K which is quiet impressive. What i've been told is that most of the money lies in surgery, some surgeons can earn millions(more than dentists). However , business is important too(as stated by almost every other mso member)

 

[Shizzy]

Im sure neurosugeons work alot but 120hrs seems like too much to be true. When would they sleep/drive to and from work, pay the bills, buy food to live. lol.

 

[squid]

Originally posted by AussieChica@Mar 27 2007, 10:41 PM

There are only 168 hours in a week. You're telling me they would have 48 hours per week, less than 7 hours per day, to eat, sleep, shower, change, have "me" time, family time, friends time, etc.
Yet another reason why I don't want to be a neurosurgeon

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Those numbers give you an insight into the sacrifice that is involved. At his time, he usually had to work 100 hours per week, looking at cases in the day and operating at night, and was on-call every second night. He mentioned how he had chrnoic fatigue, and how during his longest operation of 18 hours, he fell asleep on his microscope eyepiece!

As a consultant and researcher his hours are not that bad nowadays, working 9-6 mon-fri, with on call work on weekends, and sometimes unscheduled 5 hour operating sessions to help a colleague in emergency surgery.

But he emphasised the fact that how it is very important for surgeons to have the knowledge and expertise. After all- you wouldn't want to go to a neurosurgeon who hasn't got much experience and hasn't done his hard work, would you? But he also said how important it is for them to work safe hours as well, and balance between gaining A LOT of experience with staying mentally and physically sane.

P.S I was talking about the hours at registrar level neurosurgery.

 

[AussieChica]

the microscope thing sounds really scary. i know fatigue is just as important as Blood Alcohol Content when driving, i can't imagine it would be much different with surgery

But yeah, u need the balance with the students... if they worked like 15 hrs a wk they'd b getting trained for decades .

re: career, 9am-6pm with possible weekends sounds ok, sounds about the amount of time i SHOULD b dedicating to med each wk so it would definitely b doable as a career.

 

[bigheadache99]

Originally posted by squid@Mar 27 2007, 12:36 PM
...
At his time, there were only 15 neurosurgeons in Australia, nowadays, theres like 120, with more grads each year...He said how much the career destroys your personal life, and he said that he would rather be doing work as a computer software developer.  Obviously, money isn't the most important thing in life.  He's also a researcher, and said that while he slowly retires from surgery, he will continue his research, which gave him longer satisfaction- although prob not much in terms of pay.

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Typical. You know, folks like these are what we call "suffering from ivory-tower syndrome". Says he prefers doing "work as a computer software developer" did he? Well, I happen to know that he & around 1 billion Indians + mainland Chinese who would like that too & guess what, such jobs are going to their countries. What he is asking for is asking to be poor, long-term un/underemployed & wretched. Bill Gates and his billion-dollar ilk are frigging far from being representatives of the computer "industry".

Being an obligatory working stiff, slaving away for someone else's profits at the company while facing zero control over one's long-term prospects & financial security is also capable of "destroying" one's personal life. In fact, it is universally known to wreck havoc on marriages esp. when one learns that one's wife decides that the realtor's a better catch after a long stint on the dole, no oversea holidays and falling way back on the mortgage.

That dr is asking for underprivileged life. He should get sober. Please. For his patients.

 

[squid]

Originally posted by AussieChica@Mar 27 2007, 10:53 PM
But yeah, u need the balance with the students... if they worked like 15 hrs a wk they'd b getting trained for decades .

re: career, 9am-6pm with possible weekends sounds ok, sounds about the amount of time i SHOULD b dedicating to med each wk so it would definitely b doable as a career.

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haha, yeah he mentioned this as well and said that the best 9am-6pm job with little week-end work is radiology and anaesthesiology. They are slightly interesting specialities, but prob not my favourite.

 

[squid]

Originally posted by bigheadache99@Mar 27 2007, 10:55 PM
Typical. You know, folks like these are what we call "suffering from ivory-tower syndrome". Says he prefers doing "work as a computer software developer" did he? Well, I happen to know that he & around 1 billion Indians + mainland Chinese who would like that too & guess what, such jobs are going to their countries. What he is asking for is asking to be poor, long-term un/underemployed & wretched. Bill Gates and his billion-dollar ilk are frigging far from being representatives of the computer "industry".

Being an obligatory working stiff, slaving away for someone else's profits at the company while facing zero control over one's long-term prospects & financial security is also capable of "destroying" one's personal life. In fact, it is universally known to wreck havoc on marriages esp. when one learns that one's wife decides that the realtor's a better catch after a long stint on the dole and no oversea holidays.

That dr is asking for underprivileged life. He should get sober. Please. For his patients.

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This guy isn't talking about "slave driving work" he's a money making machine. Looking at his school/uni results if he didn't end up soing medicine, he would have ended up in hard-core software development, with his own company.

 

[bigheadache99]

Originally posted by squid@Mar 27 2007, 12:59 PM
This guy isn't talking about "slave driving work" he's a money making machine.  Looking at his school/uni results if he didn't end up soing medicine, he would have ended up in hard-core software development, with his own company.

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Would have, could have... all hypothetical. All I know is, he is making megabucks working as a doctor. He should leave fantasies to fiction/entertainment writers.

FACT: Many tech companies DO NOT succeed & go bankrupt within 2 years - it's a matter of luck & chance NOT how good a techie he is. These days the "hard core" techies work @ Coles and drive cabs and kid you not. For an introduction, read Brainbox.com.au