MD/residency/fellowships: constantly moving to different cities?

[nychila]

I've read a lot of doctors' and researchers' bios recently, and I was surprised that most of them seemed to have moved around quite a bit during their 20s and early 30s due to training in different cities across the country. For example, a doctor may have the following educational history:
- med school: UCLA in L.A.
- IM residency: UCSF in San Francisco
- cardiology fellowship: MGH in Boston
- research fellowship: Hopkins in Baltimore
- interventional cardiology fellowship: Switzerland
- MPH (several years later): Columbia in New York

I'm just curious as to how doctors (or even researchers pursuing their master's, PhD, post-doc, assistant professor, visiting professor abroad, then finally tenure) who constantly move to a different city in their 20s and early 30s are able to have a stable family and handle the career of their spouse or long-term partner?

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[SouthernSurgeon]

I've read a lot of doctors' and researchers' bios recently, and I was surprised that most of them seemed to have moved around quite a bit during their 20s and early 30s due to training in different cities across the country. For example, a doctor may have the following educational history:
- med school: UCLA in L.A.
- IM residency: UCSF in San Francisco
- cardiology fellowship: MGH in Boston
- research fellowship: Hopkins in Baltimore
- interventional cardiology fellowship: Switzerland
- MPH (several years later): Columbia in New York

I'm just curious as to how doctors (or even researchers pursuing their master's, PhD, post-doc, assistant professor, visiting professor abroad, then finally tenure) who constantly move to a different city in their 20s and early 30s are able to have a stable family and handle the career of their spouse or long-term partner?

Well your example is a particularly extreme one. The vast majority of med school graduates do not pursue residency, fellowship, a separate research fellowship, a super-fellowship, and obtain a post-doctoral graduate degree. In fact I would say that is an exceptionally rare career path.

The most common career path is to graduate medical school, then do a residency in a nearby geographic basin, then get a job in that same basin.

And the reality is that a good many put their lives on hold for the majority of their training, or they find a particularly understanding spouse.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Agree with southernIM.

Most physicians do not pursue the academic track you've given as an example.

For the rest, they either do not have/pursue serious personal relationships during training (the average age for marriage for physicians and becoming a parent is higher than the non-physician population), or have a partner who has a flexible career/life. There are some who don't have the latter which ends up becoming a problem, occasionally posted as an SDN thread.

 

[colbgw02]

Assuming that one's spouse is on board with it, it's not nearly as big of a deal as most people think it is. People in the military do it all the time, and usually not to places nearly as nice as Boston or San Francisco.

 

[nychila]

Assuming that one's spouse is on board with it, it's not nearly as big of a deal as most people think it is. People in the military do it all the time, and usually not to places nearly as nice as Boston or San Francisco.

Let's say the spouse or long-term partner is an accountant, nurse, or professor - would he/she have trouble finding a new job every 1-3 years in a 10 year span? I'm just having some trouble understanding how a doctor or someone in a career that requires constant moving within a period of 10 years can have a stable family life with the spouse always finding new jobs and kids constantly moving to a different school. I appreciate all of your responses.

 

[J ROD]

Generally speaking, I have seen where many get their MD degree in one place, move to another place for residency, and then perhaps another place for fellowship. With that said, most do stay in a geographical region. For example, I will stay in the Southeast. I am considering this option, but if I do fellowship for a year, I will probably go by myself. Don't want to move everyone. If you have others to consider, it makes things tricky and you will need someone that understands. But, the example you used is overkill. I have all 4 of my degrees from the same place. So, I look forward to moving somewhere different for residency. However, not across country, and probably not even out of state.

It really all depends on what you want, what you circumstances are, and where you get in.

 

[J ROD]

Let's say the spouse or long-term partner is an accountant, nurse, or professor - would he/she have trouble finding a new job every 1-3 years in a 10 year span? I'm just having some trouble understanding how a doctor or someone in a career that requires constant moving within a period of 10 years can have a stable family life with the spouse always finding new jobs and kids constantly moving to a different school. I appreciate all of your responses.

It is hard but can be done. I know several professional spouses that have made it work. I also know where the MD goes and the other stays behind. You do what you have to do. That is life.

 

[colbgw02]

Let's say the spouse or long-term partner is an accountant, nurse, or professor - would he/she have trouble finding a new job every 1-3 years in a 10 year span? I'm just having some trouble understanding how a doctor or someone in a career that requires constant moving within a period of 10 years can have a stable family life with the spouse always finding new jobs and kids constantly moving to a different school. I appreciate all of your responses.

Obviously, not all spouses' jobs are created equal. I know a nurse can move pretty easily, and I would think it's nearly as easy for an accountant. A professor would be more difficult, potentially impossible, particularly if he or she has tenure or is on a tenured track. My wife is a physician. She hasn't had any difficulty finding work either before I ended residency (mine was longer) or after, but it helps that she's a family practitioner. It's clearly a sacrifice, because the spouse can never develop any seniority, but it can be done.

Kids are incredibly resilient. They can handle the moves better than most adults. Between beginning in kindergarten and 10th grade, I attended nine different schools. I considered myself lucky to be able to spend my last three years of high school in one place. Of course, I'll never know what I missed out on by not growing up in one place and developing life-long friends, but it's also helped me in many areas as well.

 

[mvenus929]

Let's say the spouse or long-term partner is an accountant, nurse, or professor - would he/she have trouble finding a new job every 1-3 years in a 10 year span? I'm just having some trouble understanding how a doctor or someone in a career that requires constant moving within a period of 10 years can have a stable family life with the spouse always finding new jobs and kids constantly moving to a different school. I appreciate all of your responses.

My entire childhood in a nutshell. I went to 17 different schools, and medical school is the longest I've been in one school (I graduated college in 3 years). It helps to know people who are going through something similar, but honestly, I've just become good at making new friends and rolling with the punches. I'd say some jobs are more flexible than others--it's fairly easy to find a job as a nurse, for example, once you have some experience, but people make it work.

 

[pdxhopeful]

Seconding what others have said. My brother is the non-doctor spouse, and he's an orthodist/prosthetist. There's enough demand for his skills he's had very little trouble finding work anywhere large enough to have the kind of program my sister-in-law needs to attend for the next phase of her training.