I've been a contributor over at Sermo.com for a number of years. After my recent phone upgrade, I can no longer log into Sermo via the app. While complaining about that fact with some colleagues, they suggested that I check out StudentDoctor.net. They point out that there are many more sub-forums, more lively debates, and more granular discussions.
To that end, I thought I'd share some of my experiences with some of the anesthesia groups in Southern California, particularly the Inland Empire.
I am going to aim for at least plausible deniability of what I write here, just so that I can be as candid as possible. If you meet me in real life, I will deny that I am the author of this thread. Anybody who claims to be the author can, therefore, be assumed to be lying.
San Diego/ASMG/Escondido
First, a statement of the obvious: I'd prefer to live and work in San Diego (who wouldn't??), but ASMG has a simply awful recruiting system. Perhaps if I were straight out of residency with my entire career yet ahead of me, I would agree to play their little game. But now that I'm seasoned and have a proven track record, I don't feel like subjecting myself to their tedious "match" system.
Since they have a hammer lock on all of San Diego (outside of government jobs, which don't appeal to me), and a very, very sh*++y Prime Healthcare gig (and exactly half of the coverage at Grossmont, where they and the not-quite-a-group that takes the worst half of cases got sued for price fixing and collusion), I had to look north. I interviewed at Escondido, but was advised by more than one young hire that the the ossified Chair very much wants newbies whom he can mold, manipulate, and manage without question or blowback. That, and the group has a very tenuous relationship with some Kaiser surgeons who are only biding their time until Kaiser builds its own hospital in Escondido, whereupon ~half of Palomar's volume (and even a higher percentage of their good-paying cases) go bye-bye.
Temecula/Murrieta/Rancho Springs/Menifee
I didn't consider it very seriously, but I did engage with a couple of recruiters who had tipped their hand that Envision was D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E desperate for warm bodies after they took over three struggling hospitals in Temecula. I have since learned that the situation in Temecula/Murrieta/Rancho Springs is even worse than I feared (and I have quite a capacity to fear what I thought pessimistically could be the worst). A friend of a friend who had been there 20+ years with his wife, house, family, and kids recently had enough of the turmoil and agreed to commute 3+ hours to a 20-hour/week in Santa Barbara that offers zero future possibility of turning into a full-time gig. While I grant that I only have a single data point to go by, that is a pretty damning single point.
Pomona
I interviewed with the group at Pomona, but absolutely nothing of what they told me made sense--and many of the "facts" they stated in the interview were verifiably false by the simplest of Googling. I decided against the job, but I later learned that the job offer itself must be further evidence of their desperation, since I am not Asian. Take that for what you will.
...More to come.
TL/DR: Anesthesia private practices are a mess, and getting worse each day. While some of our enemies are AMCs and CRNAs, real life practicing anesthesiologists are more than happy to screw each other over, as well.
To that end, I thought I'd share some of my experiences with some of the anesthesia groups in Southern California, particularly the Inland Empire.
I am going to aim for at least plausible deniability of what I write here, just so that I can be as candid as possible. If you meet me in real life, I will deny that I am the author of this thread. Anybody who claims to be the author can, therefore, be assumed to be lying.
San Diego/ASMG/Escondido
First, a statement of the obvious: I'd prefer to live and work in San Diego (who wouldn't??), but ASMG has a simply awful recruiting system. Perhaps if I were straight out of residency with my entire career yet ahead of me, I would agree to play their little game. But now that I'm seasoned and have a proven track record, I don't feel like subjecting myself to their tedious "match" system.
Since they have a hammer lock on all of San Diego (outside of government jobs, which don't appeal to me), and a very, very sh*++y Prime Healthcare gig (and exactly half of the coverage at Grossmont, where they and the not-quite-a-group that takes the worst half of cases got sued for price fixing and collusion), I had to look north. I interviewed at Escondido, but was advised by more than one young hire that the the ossified Chair very much wants newbies whom he can mold, manipulate, and manage without question or blowback. That, and the group has a very tenuous relationship with some Kaiser surgeons who are only biding their time until Kaiser builds its own hospital in Escondido, whereupon ~half of Palomar's volume (and even a higher percentage of their good-paying cases) go bye-bye.
Temecula/Murrieta/Rancho Springs/Menifee
I didn't consider it very seriously, but I did engage with a couple of recruiters who had tipped their hand that Envision was D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E desperate for warm bodies after they took over three struggling hospitals in Temecula. I have since learned that the situation in Temecula/Murrieta/Rancho Springs is even worse than I feared (and I have quite a capacity to fear what I thought pessimistically could be the worst). A friend of a friend who had been there 20+ years with his wife, house, family, and kids recently had enough of the turmoil and agreed to commute 3+ hours to a 20-hour/week in Santa Barbara that offers zero future possibility of turning into a full-time gig. While I grant that I only have a single data point to go by, that is a pretty damning single point.
Pomona
I interviewed with the group at Pomona, but absolutely nothing of what they told me made sense--and many of the "facts" they stated in the interview were verifiably false by the simplest of Googling. I decided against the job, but I later learned that the job offer itself must be further evidence of their desperation, since I am not Asian. Take that for what you will.
...More to come.
TL/DR: Anesthesia private practices are a mess, and getting worse each day. While some of our enemies are AMCs and CRNAs, real life practicing anesthesiologists are more than happy to screw each other over, as well.
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