how portable are you as an MD? Can you pick up and move every few years?

[medder]

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I'm sure this depends on the specialty, but in general, are you stuck in one spot once you begin a practice or land a good job?

 

[skypilot]

I think the most portable are family med, internal med, em, and anesthesia.
My sister moves every year. She only signs one year contracts which include housing and a rental car. She practices Internal Med.

It might be tough to move alot if you are a CT surgeon. 🙂

 

[cbgray]

My sister moves every year.

Every year?! Wow...so much for building lasting relationships with your patients! 😉

 

[skypilot]

Every year?! Wow...so much for building lasting relationships with your patients! 😉

I think she is doing mostly hospitalist stuff so no long term relationships anyway. 🙂

 

[NonTradMed]

I'm curious about this as well. I always figured as a doctor, one could move to most parts of the country and find a job. I plan on staying in one place to practice but it would be nice to know how much flexibility your MD will offer in the future.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Every time you go to get credentialed at a new hospital it will take longer as most insist upon contacting EVERY hospital/office/group you have worked for/with. It currently takes 3-6 months to get credentialied at the hospital associated with my medical school...that would be a bitch of a process to repeat every year.

 

[squareDR]

If you move to a new state, you have to apply for a license from that state. This can take up to 6 months (of course, you can apply prior to moving). It is a pretty expensive process (although by that time, one may not care about that too much)

 

[jbrice1639]

this is just like switching companies frequently in the business world...it's going to look bad to any employer because they're going to think one of two things, either:
a) you suck at your job and you get fired a lot
or
b) you have no loyalty and there's no reason to hire you knowing you'll just bail anyways

 

[sscooterguy]

I disagree that it would be easy to move as an FP, as you need to build those relationships, by nature of the field. Same thing for IM unless as you mentioned its all hospitalist work.

The fields in which picking up and moving can be easiest are Pathology, Anesthesiology, Radiology, and Emergency Medicine. By nature, they won't be leaving patients behind and can pick up patients/cases immediately after a move.

sscooterguy

 

[Beau Geste]

this is just like switching companies frequently in the business world...it's going to look bad to any employer because they're going to think one of two things, either:
a) you suck at your job and you get fired a lot
or
b) you have no loyalty and there's no reason to hire you knowing you'll just bail anyways

Unless you're self-employed or work as PRN (or locum tenum). Then the job change is expected.

 

[Bevo]

the other day I overheard about certain interventional radiologists who moved around for a few weeks to cover for other physicians. I might be nieve(sp?) about this some, but I dont think that many institutions have many IRs on staff.

I heard these IRs could make a lot of cash doing this.

 

[Bubb Rubb]

+1 on the locum tenums deal. on a side note, i know of physicians who have changed practices every 3-4 years consistently without apparent repercussion (other than the usual hassles of buying/selling the house, etc.).