Income and job satisfaction fall among US doctors

The income of US doctors in most specialties fell from 2010 to 2011, while their unhappiness with practising medicine rose. Just half (54%) said that they would choose medicine again as a career.

The results came from the 2012 annual Physician Compensation Survey conducted by Medscape, the internet medical site. More than 24 000 US doctors in 25 specialties were surveyed in February this year.

The highest income specialties were radiology, orthopaedic surgery, and cardiology, while the lowest were internal medicine, family medicine, and paediatrics.⇓

The report shows that the healthcare reform goal of reducing “unnecessary care” faces challenges. Two thirds of doctors said that they would not reduce the number of tests, procedures, and treatments they …