Job prospects for new MD grads?

[mac_kin]

as

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DrMom]

Are you 100% guaranteed of landing your desired full-time job in your speciality upon completing of your residency/fellowship?

It's just like any other job. You're not guaranteed anything. If you get into the specialty you want and finish the residency/fellowship, you're qualified for a job in that field. That may or may not be in the city, state, group you "desire" but barring personal problems you should be able to get a job in your field.

 

[mac_kin]

2

 

[ArcGurren]

A lot of people also go into private practice, so it's not all about hospital jobs. One of the nice things about most fields of medicine is that you can work privately either solo or in groups.

 

[mac_kin]

234

 

[myhandsarecold]

hmm, this is new to me. ive rotated through several residency programs and so far, ive never heard anything about people having difficulty getting a job. for example, all the graduating ob-gyns at our place got jobs, all the family docs had multiple offers, our newly expanded pediatric wing hired a BUNCH of generalists/subspecialists, and the gen surgeons all got fellowships.

i don't expect to be unemployed as a doctor anytime soon.

 

[jdh71]

Are you 100% guaranteed of landing your desired full-time job in your speciality upon completing of your residency/fellowship?

Depends

 

[DrMom]

i don't expect to be unemployed as a doctor anytime soon.

Exactly. But the jobs aren't always where you may think of as your first choice, especially if you're really sub-specialized. Some markets are more saturated than others, but there are jobs. I don't know any physician who has been unable to get a job.

 

[switcheroo]

Good point! I forget that in the US it is much different because almost any specialist can work privately. I'm in Canada...so there is NO WAY a specialist will do surgery privately. Although the system is about to change for you guys, so I don't know what that will mean for the future...

As a Canadian medical student, I'm already being courted by places desperate for doctors. Just because they haven't hired any new cardiac surgeons in your hospital lately doesn't mean there are no jobs anywhere. It just means your hospital has enough cardiac surgeons. There are way too few doctors here in Canada for the population we need to serve, so there is no reason to expect you can't/won't find a job when you're done school. It might not be in the city you want, depending on your specialty (i.e., can't practice pediatric neurosurgery in Nunavut), but there are plenty of jobs.

 

[ArcGurren]

Good point! I forget that in the US it is much different because almost any specialist can work privately. I'm in Canada...so there is NO WAY a specialist will do surgery privately. Although the system is about to change for you guys, so I don't know what that will mean for the future...

The "system" has more to do with insurance reimbursements than it does with how doctors practice... undoubtedly there will be some changes but I highly doubt it would just eliminate private practice altogether.

 

[MCAT guy]

Not to mention if you are taking the MCAT soon, you likely won't have your MD for 5+ years and won't be "looking for a job" until another 3-5 years after that.

It is impossible to accurately predict the job market 10 years from now.

I think you have to just do what you enjoy, be one of the best in your field, and then things will work out regardless of what you do.

 

[gravitywave]

CT surgery is actually one of the only fields for which employment has been stable or even dropping in recent years. i believe a lot of it is because there's less call for huge hero cardiac surgeries than there was in the go-go 80s (interventional cards has poached a lot of what used to be CT surgery work). CT fellowship slots actually go begging now, because people know that the field is a bit saturated.

this is not the case for almost any other field in medicine.

 

[TexasPhysician]

You aren't guaranteed to land the specialty/residency you desire, but once you have finished residency you will have more job offers than you can handle (in most fields anyways)