Make sure you check out Bakersfield's residency then--it is a new residency (only in its 3rd year) and they have some really cool attendings there.
Plus they say that working in the Central Valley is incredible--there is an overwhelming need for psychiatrists there and one of the attendings told me, straight up, "You'll be making 250-300 your first year--there just aren't any psychiatrists here. It's virgin territory." I think there is something to be said for working in underserved areas--you see the need for good physicians so clearly.
Good luck about your choice, and if you want to talk further, just send me a private message--I'll be happy to have a chat!
Cheers!
Thanks, I might do that.
I just found this article and thought I would post it in my own thread, since I brought up the CA salary thing. You can scroll to the bottom for the 'bottom-line.' This, of course, does not speak to the amount of hours they work, but its a good start I guess. Wow, who knew?
http://www.pe.com/breakingnews/local/stories/PE_News_Local_R_patton30.dd7482.html
Officials fear losing staff from state mental hospitals
05:07 PM PST on Monday, January 29, 2007
Gregor McgAvin The Press-Enterprise
Officials at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino fear the hefty pay raises for medical staff in California's prisons could lure doctors and nurses from lower-paying jobs in the state's mental hospitals.
The court-ordered increases -- which take effect in March -- would nearly double the salary earned by psychiatrists, psychologists and other staff members at the state's nine mental hospitals.
"The reality is, if those salaries are not matched" medical personnel will leave the mental hospital system for greater pay, said Octavio Luna, director of Patton State Hospital. "We have had people indicate they are interested."
The prison raises were ordered by a federal official overseeing reform of the state's overcrowded prison system. The increases were designed to draw highly qualified medical professionals to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's $1.5-billion medical system.
Luna said could not say how many staff members are looking to jump ship. But the issue comes at a particularly bad time for officials at mental hospitals, who are already struggling to recruit and retain enough personnel to comply with federal standards to treat the roughly 5,000 patients in the state's mental hospital system.
A staff psychiatrist now earning $11,955 a month for the Department of Mental Health would stand to make $21,031 a month working for the prison system. The top salary for psychologists at mental hospitals is $5,201 monthly, compard to $7,125 a month in the prisons.
Patton already needs to hire about 40 staff psychiatrists to meet the total of 106 that federal officials said the hospital must have to serve its roughly 1,500 patients.
That roughly 38 percent vacancy rate is nothing compared to Atascadero State Hospital, the most understaffed mental hospital in California, where 70 percent of the psychiatrist positions are unfilled.
The U.S. Department of Justice in March 2006 reached a settlement with the state mental hospital system which gave the hospitals three years to correct serious violations of patient safety and civil rights.
In September 2005, two Patton patients were arrested in connection with the death of their 50-year-old roommate. Three months later, a Patton patient died after a fellow patient attacked him, police said.
If medical personnel flee the mental health department in large numbers, Luna said, that could make it impossible for mental hospitals to make the changes ordered by federal investigators.
That could in turn lead to the appointment of a federal receiver to oversee the system -- as happened to the prison system.
"That's the worst of all scenarios, because then you no longer have any control of what goes on locally," Luna said.
He and other officials said they hope the high salaries will draw job candidates from the private sector.
"They can take the cream of the crop," said Cindy Barrett, a Patton spokeswoman.
Luna said mental health department officials plan to lobby Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature to raise salaries in the state's mental hospitals to keep pace with the prisons.
Reach Gregor McGavin at 951-368-9549 or
[email protected].
HIGHER PAY
A staff psychiatrist at one of California's state mental hospitals earns $11,955 per month.
The same job in the state prison system now pays $21,031 a month.
A psychologist with the state mental health department makes $5,201 a month, compared to $7,125 a month in the prisons.
Source: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, California Department of Mental Health.
