This headline was very catching as I wanted to know the answer myself. The truth is a lot of medical students, residents, and fellows don’t actually know how much their first real salary will be. We hear low numbers from our academic supervisors and for those of us in primary care we begin to wonder if we will at least make the magic six-numbers that society thinks doctors make.
On the other hand, we hear high numbers from somebody who knows somebody out there in the private world with business skills. Skills like those demonstrated in McAllen, Texas.
So, I copy verbatim from the WSJ article by Laura Yao:
Good news for med students worried about their debt loads: Physicians coming out of residencies last year reported increases in their starting salaries in many specialties, according to a survey by the Medical Group Management Association, a trade group for medical groups.
Here are the specialties with the biggest jumps in 2008 from a year earlier based on data from 3,520 physicians:
Neurology: $200,000 to $230,000 –- up 15%
Non-invasive cardiology: $350,000 to $400,000 – up 14.29%
Anesthesiology: $275,000 to $312,500 – up 13.64%
Emergency medicine: $192,000 to $215,040 – up 12%
Internal medicine: $150,000 to $165,000 – up 10%
Non-invasive cardiology: $350,000 to $400,000 – up 14.29%
Anesthesiology: $275,000 to $312,500 – up 13.64%
Emergency medicine: $192,000 to $215,040 – up 12%
Internal medicine: $150,000 to $165,000 – up 10%
And as if we needed any more reminders about why there’s a shortage of pediatricians and primary care physicians, the report also has data on the extremes: The lowest starting salary in 2008 was for pediatricians — $132,500. The other lowest-paid specialties, in ascending order: family practice, geriatrics, urgent care, internal medicine, and infectious disease.
The highest specialty salary was for those starting out in neurological surgery — $605,000. Others at the top of the heap, in descending order: radiology (nuclear medicine), thoracic surgery, cardiology, and orthopedic surgery.
Well, there you have it.
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