Humor me regarding jobs for a BC doc?

[makethemostofit]

Okay so humor me in this situation:

i am currently in IM. I am trying my best to like it and may feel differently after 3 years. Anyhow, I really miss ob/gyn still. My question is this- say I switch to ob/gyn after 3 years of IM (funding issues aside) and end up being board-certified in IM. Would I theoretically be guaranteed some sort of job (clinical or not) for life with a BC qualification in IM? Just thinking of worse case scenarios (i.e. an injury) which may impede my ability to practice as a surgeon.

In other words, would I be able to fall back on my IM BC qualification for jobs as a back up, for life, non clinical jobs included?

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[gutonc]

You're never guaranteed any sort of a job, with any training/certification.

And if you're asking if you can go get a job as a hospitalist or PCP after 15 years as an OB/Gyn without any IM practice, the answer is...highly unlikely, but not completely impossible.

The main reason to complete your IM training is not to practice after OB, but to practice if you don't get into OB. At this point, assuming you're an intern, you wouldn't be able to get an OB spot until after your 2nd year, in which case, you should probably just finish IM and decide later.

 

[Gastrapathy]

In fairness, Gyn can function as primary care for women so it actually might work for outpatient

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

Yeah I would think you’d be better off (in theory) just buying disability insurance.

I could see you maybe get a job in the boonies (read: desperate for anyone) but that probably isn’t where I’d want to work as a rusty as hell hospitalist with minimal sub-speciality / infrastructure support.

I agree with @Gastrapathy that you’d probably be better off trying to slide into a non-op women’s health clinic role... I don’t know much about OB but if it’s like everything else where procedures are $$$ I’d think plenty of places might hire you to run a clinic and refer surgeries and stuff to the other docs?

 

[mvenus929]

Also... you don't have board certification for life. You pass your boards after IM, and then you have to do something to maintain board certification--I don't know how ABIM sets it up, but the ABP requires a certain amount of CME-type education (including some QI work), and passing an exam every 5-10 years (we're in the process of transitioning to quarterly questions at home rather than a sit down exam, but you still have to pass a certain number of those questions every 5 years or you have to sit for the exam).

As others have said, you're better off getting disability insurance for if you aren't able to work as a surgeon, or work in a primarily clinic role doing women's health--which may function very similarly to an IM outpatient clinic.