Need for Flight Surgeons?

[claaron]

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I am currently an AD Army officer in Virginia. I have spoke with many Guardsmen and many have informed me that "the Army National Guard is always hurting for Flight Surgeons". When I attended the flight course the story was the same: "only XX% of available spots are filled nationwide". Imagine my surprise when I start to look int options for a lateral transfer from the active component to the Guard (looking for AGR or Tech slot) and nothing is available. I graduated from Medical school in 2008 and completed a one year internship and WRAMC. I have since been a Flight Surgeon. I am very good at my job and clinically astute. However, I am not residency trained. I spoke with the Iowa Deputy State Surgeon and she informed me that they were looking for flight surgeons. However, when I contacted the State Surgeon he told me that he was currently trying to create an AGR slot for a Surgeon. My questions is this: if the Army Guard lacking Flight Surgeons why is it so hard to get a job offer? I want to continue to serve my country doing something I love, in a state I love (Iowa) but am getting very frustrated. Thank you in advance for any info or advice

 

[notdeadyet]

Couple thoughts, take them for what they're worth:

1. Most states don't have AGR slots for physicians of any kind. Most states use docs as m-day soldiers. There are plenty of slots available for flight surgeon, but few will be full-time employment. This thread is the first I've heard of full-time surgeons in the Guard.

2. If they were to open up a slot for a full-time doc, I'd be surprised if they didn't require that person to be board certified. If a state has sufficient medical need that they need to hire docs full-time, they're likely going to be medical leadership roles and I can't imagine how well someone who hasn't been residency trained is going to have clinical supervision over folks who finished residency. Might be different in Iowa, I know there's a lot of regional variation with the Guard.

You'd kick open your prospects much wider if you bit the bullet and finished residency. If you're five years out of internship, you'd still be under the wire for not having to repeat intern year if you went back, right? Two more years in something/anything would likely really open doors, no?

 

[claaron]

Yep, starting to come to this realization! BTW, how far would I have be out from internship to be required to repeat it...I completed internship at WRAMC in 2009. Thanks for the post! (Ive read many of your post too)

 

[claaron]

At this point I am actually considering getting out of the Army and applying for a CIV residency

 

[notdeadyet]

BTW, how far would I have be out from internship to be required to repeat it...

I will leave that to the others. I've heard of lots of folks repeating intern year after a lot of time in GMO land and others not. I'm not sure how much it's residency or program specific.

 

[Cooperd0g]

Yeah I really doubt you will find an AGR spot for a flight doc. Having said that, check out USAJobs.com. Sometimes they have civilian contractor flight doc jobs at Rucker and other places. No idea if they want you BE/BC in anything, but they also usually want more than just a couple of years flight doc experience also.