In order to find happiness as a veterinary radiologist, radiologists must be confident. A lack of confidence will lead to wishy washy reports and reports that are little more than laundry lists of rule outs. If you are a teleradiologist, your clients will leave you and look for someone who can give them the reports they need to manage their cases. If you work at a referral hospital or university, the other specialists will do their own imaging and interpret their own cases.
A lack of confidence leads to a lack of trust by your clients which leads to job insecurity. You will never find happiness if you are worried about losing your job or your clients.
A confident radiologist is able to provide their clients with a report that will assist in their management of the case. Many residents and younger radiologists are confident to the extent that they can make a rule out list and not miss lesions. That level of confidence is not sufficient. Not missing lesions is not the same as offering your opinion on a case.
Referring veterinarians need radiologists to be confident to the degree that they can unequivocally give their best assessment of a case. Radiologists need to tell their clients “This is what I think it is. If I am wrong, I will take the fall for the screw up because this is what this imaging study says. Go ahead, ask around. Take a poll. Ask around. You have my opinion and although I may be wrong, I am confident enough in telling you that this is what I think it is.”
In order to find happiness as a radiologist you are going to first have to find that type of confidence. In my opinion, that confidence 1) takes time to develop and 2) is difficult to find at home in your underwear.
Experience is necessary to develop confidence. Although there are some superstars coming out of their residency, as a general rule, it will take a few years seeing cases in order to develop your confidence. We all go through that learning curve1. Do not beat yourself up. Confidence takes time. A few years is expected. That is just the way it is.
The fastest way to develop that confidence is to work at a referral hospital or university. Taking your beatings from cantankerous surgeons and/or know-it-all internists is an essential part of the learning curve of any young radiologist2.
In my experience (although there are exceptions) the least confident radiology reports are issued by radiologists who begin their career working full time as a teleradiologist. As such, it is HIGHLY recommended that radiologists avoid the teleradiology temptation for at least 2 years. Your clients, your career, and your confidence will be glad you did. In our teleradiology service, we do not actively court radiologists coming out of their residency and we prefer to work with radiologists who have several years of experience working at a university or referral hospital. Please do not take it personally. Looking back, I would not have hired myself when I was coming out of my residency either.
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1.I include myself in this group
2. It is my feeling that if I did not work at a referral for a few years after my residency, it would have taken me significantly longer to mature as a radiologist.