Working in respiratory medicine: 5 Pros and 5 Cons

Working in respiratory medicine: 5 Pros and 5 Cons

Respiratory medicine is not for everyone. Here goes.

5 Pros – why should I work in respiratory medicine?

1. Practice general medicine. There are great first hand learning opportunities as patients with asthma/COPD, PE, lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis, often have other cardiac and problems. There is alot of contact with CT surgeons, which is stimulating
2. Procedures. There are quite alot of procedures, e.g. bronchoscopies, pleural drains and lung biopsies. So if you are practical and like using your hands, and want to be a physician, this may be a specialty for you
3. Variety and continuity. There is a huge variety of patients and illnesses – from common ones like asthma/COPD, lung cancer, PE; to rare ones like rare causes of pulmonary fibrosis. On a respiratory ward, you will always be seeing something new, which means you will regularly face new challenges and learn new skills. Also the ‘hot work’ (mainly asthma/COPD on the wards) is balanced by ‘cold work’ (especially lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis, in the clinics); where you will also have to make careful plans for lung transplants, for example. There are many long-term patients with COPD who you will get really fond of
4. The hours are largely social. As a consultant you will not often be working at night, weekends, and bank holidays. Some will be on a bronchoscopy rota, but they don’t often have to come in at night. Consultants in smaller local hospitals may have to be on general medical rotas (see below)
5. Finance. And there is alot of private practice as a consultant. But you can seriously boost your salary by doing clinics and bronchoscopies.

5 Cons – why you may not want to work in respiratory medicine

Here is a list of cons for respiratory medicine.

1. Too much general medicine in some jobs. Respiratory disease is very common. This means all hospitals have them, from small local hospitals to large teaching hospitals. Consultants in the smaller hospitals still have to do alot of general medical takes, that do not always interest them that much
2. Not a huge amount of clinical immunology. For those of you that like clinical immunology and pathology, this may not be the place for you. Though biological agents are increasingly used. Nephrology or haematology may be specialties you might look at if you like clinical immunology
3. Senior supervision. This is usually good but perhaps not as close (and stifling!) as some medical specialties. There are pros and cons to this issue, e.g. it does promote independent thinking
4. Even pace. Whilst most staff enjoy the even, others miss a specialty where there is a faster pace
5. Emotionally draining. In respiratory disease, you are likely to encounter a lot of pain and tragedy – e.g. a lot of deaths (especially from COPD and lung cancer). Seeing such things can be emotionally draining. And that’s doubly true when patients die before you can save them. While it is important to have empathy for your patients, the best respiratory staff need the ability to remain slightly detached and emotionally healthy, even in the face of other people’s suffering.

Summary

We have described working in respiratory medicine, and its pros and cons. We hope you have learnt something.