Maybe you should read this article first. As I keep stressing, it always comes back to econ 101.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2007-02-13-cardiac-jobs-usat_x.htm
Fewer cardiac surgeon jobs available
By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY
It was almost a given: Go to medical school, spend an additional 10 years to become a heart surgeon, then you've got it made.
But new ways of treating heart disease have changed that outlook: Cardiac surgeons are having a tougher time finding work.
The use of artery-opening stents has helped lead to a sharp drop in the number of patients having cardiac bypass surgery and contributed to a tight job market for cardiac surgeons and falling interest in the specialty by medical school graduates.
"If you look at the market right now, it's like everyone is at a big fancy ball, but the cardiac surgeons are the ones not getting asked to dance," says Kurt Mosley, a vice president at Merritt Hawkins & Associates, a health care staffing firm. "Ten years ago, they were right up there."
Such surgeries "used to be the bread and butter" for cardiothoracic surgeons, who operate on hearts and lungs, says Robert Higgins, chairman of cardiovascular surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Cardiac surgeons may find they're not doing bypasses every day and may instead build a practice involving heart valve operations or lung surgery, Higgins says.
A survey of 88 cardiothoracic residents finishing their training found that 12% received no job offers in 2004, according to a 2006 article in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery. At the same time, the number of applicants choosing to pursue one of the 140 training spots each year has also declined. In 2005, there were only 104 applicants filling 100 of the 139 available spots, according to the article.
"In general, graduating residents were extremely disappointed with job opportunities," says co-author Richard Lee, assistant director of residency programs at St. Louis University.
Cardiac surgery residents spend an average 10 years after medical school pursuing training for the specialized field, whose practitioners earn a median income of $419,980, Salary.com says.
The graduating residents, whose average age in the survey was nearly 36, spent five to seven years in general surgery residency and two to three to become cardiothoracic surgeons.
Lee and Higgins are cautiously optimistic on the longer term outlook: Many older surgeons will soon retire, even as baby boomers enter their prime heart disease years, they say.
But things could remain tight for now. And when there is an opening, competition can be fierce
Mike Lindenberger, of recruitment firm Sunbelt Management in Harrisburg, N.C., posted a cardiothoracic surgeon job for a hospital in Florida on Thursday. Four responses came in on Friday and 15 more over the weekend, he says.
"That says a lot of people are looking to move," Lindenberger says.
