Civilian jobs after wilderness med fellowship

[sonofva]

What types of civilian jobs would one do after graduating from a wilderness/austere medicine fellowship? Is the fellowship worth it? What are the job prospects? Thanks.

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[dotcb]

Not clear what you mean by 'civilian jobs.' Most people on this board are emergency docs - working in either academic medicine or the private sector. There are a small number of military jobs, not a lot in EM. Most grads of wilderness med fellowship will either work in academic medicine and have wilderness med as their academic niche, work in private EM and do wilderness activities on the side, and a small number will be able to carve out a career that is entirely wilderness med - (ex. event consulting, expedition med, doc for the national parks, etc.) The best reason to do a wilderness med fellowship would probably be the connections you might make. A motivated person might be able to do most of the same things without a fellowship.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

On a financial basis, most EM (perhaps all, but I don't feel like an argument) aren't "worth it." Why someone would train 2 extra years as a pediatric emergency doc to make less money is beyond me. However, people who do fellowships do it for reasons other than financial and are usually geared toward academia anyway. It may keep your career interesting, get you into a select academic spot, and provide some fun stuff on the side. But don't expect to somehow make up the hundreds of thousands of dollars (especially when compounded over your entire career) you'll miss out on by being a fellow instead of a private attending.