I did 2 years of internal medicine internship and junior resident and then radiology for 30 years. The radiology job market hiring is controlled by men and now there is no job market. The last locums I went to I was lied to about job desciption and I wasn't allowed to read MRI after neuro and MSK fellowship with neuro boards because the male that ran the center did not read as well as I did. These night hawk jobs don't even pay 100K and the teleradiology from home pays peanuts. I'm in my late 50s and I will have to work the rest of my life. I want to work for myself since working for others is just exploitation. Can anyone suggest career move? Do I go into family practice or re enter internal medicine and then try to use my radiology skills there?

That sounds like a very discouraging situation. But the grass is definitely *not* greener in primary care! After being in radiology for 30 years, I imagine that you would need some significant retraining to do primary care, and after all that effort, it does not pay well for most people. So many private practices in primary care are going out of business.

You are already highly qualified to practice radiology, so hopefully there is a way that you can expand your job search and be willing to accept jobs that are farther away or that pay less well or that are otherwise not quite as desirable. At least you will be working, keeping up your skills, and paying the bills. It may be exploitation, but it might be better than the alternative!

Some of the places I worked had American trained radiologists who live outside our usual time zones (in Hawaii or India) since they were awake when local MDs were sleeping.

As far as the men being in control...if you can't join them, beat them at their own game. Get together with people you like and start something new.

Teach CME, work with industry, write, any other ways you can use your skills?

Also, many people in primary care work ALL the time and many don't make $100K.

Good luck.

I don't know if this helps at all, but we have a local radiology private practice person who takes insurance and cash for service. His rates are MUCH more reasonable that the hospitals, which tack on all kinds of fees and such (I am in a big city). He must have pretty good hours because when I have called in early morning or too late he is not available. It has been especially nice to have someone near our office to whom I can send patients who are self pay but can afford the services. I don't know anything about his equipment or set up. Being your own boss might be nice after the years of working for others...

And, I am obgyn, so I don't know much about radiology practice setups. Maybe this is unusual and difficult to set up. I thought I would mention it, though.

Best of luck with finding your next path!