Residencies - worth it?

[UKvitnry6518]

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Hi All, I'm new to the forum but I couldn't find anywhere where this subject was specifically discussed. Overall I have read some concerning stories and heard worrying reports over the past few months about diplomates in various fields qualifying and then struggling to find work. I was wondering what other people have heard and if there are any residents/recent diplomates on here that could shed some light on the current job situation?

The reason I'm asking is I am currently halfway through a 1 year rotating internship in the UK, I will be 5 years qualified this summer having worked in both general practice and also emergency only care. But now its crunch time! The second half of the internship is beginning, projects and case studies are to be written, case logs completed and I will soon be applying for residencies in the field of Internal Medicine. But before I do this I want to know realistically what my prospects are like?

Any help from you guys is much appreciated.

 

[Bracco Pointer]

I would also be interested to see what people have to say on this topic. And also, thoughs on if residencies are "worth it" from the aspect of work-family balance.

 

[SocialStigma]

I'm only in 4th year so I don't have any personal experience with this but I think whether or not it's worth it will depend on what you want to see in practice. For me, pursuing a residency would be worthwhile because I have no desire to do general practice, I only want to see surgical cases. I would be perfectly happy cutting every day for the rest of my career and never seeing another vaccine or wellness appointment again. It would be hard to get a job where I could do that without being boarded, and I'm willing to take that chance even if I don't find a job as a boarded surgeon afterwards and have to work as a GP. However, if I was interested in general practice as well as surgery, then I wouldn't pursue a residency.

 

[Kpowell14]

Hi All, I'm new to the forum but I couldn't find anywhere where this subject was specifically discussed. Overall I have read some concerning stories and heard worrying reports over the past few months about diplomates in various fields qualifying and then struggling to find work. I was wondering what other people have heard and if there are any residents/recent diplomates on here that could shed some light on the current job situation?

The reason I'm asking is I am currently halfway through a 1 year rotating internship in the UK, I will be 5 years qualified this summer having worked in both general practice and also emergency only care. But now its crunch time! The second half of the internship is beginning, projects and case studies are to be written, case logs completed and I will soon be applying for residencies in the field of Internal Medicine. But before I do this I want to know realistically what my prospects are like?

Any help from you guys is much appreciated.

Recently we had a VBMA meeting about residencies and post grad training.. One of our clinicians is on the Board of Regents for the ACVIM and he specifically spoke about internal med as one of the residencies that is putting out more diplomates then there are jobs.. He predicted that in coming years it is only going to get worse. 🙁

 

[Jamr0ckin]

Recently we had a VBMA meeting about residencies and post grad training.. One of our clinicians is on the Board of Regents for the ACVIM and he specifically spoke about internal med as one of the residencies that is putting out more diplomates then there are jobs.. He predicted that in coming years it is only going to get worse. 🙁

This makes me all kinds of sad

 

[Kpowell14]

This makes me all kinds of sad

Me too Jam... IM is on my list of things I could see myself doing 🙁

 

[Jamr0ckin]

Me too Jam... IM is on my list of things I could see myself doing 🙁

Yeah, that is my current goal. I also love derm, but I'm not a competitive enough applicant for that

 

[Caia]

Recently we had a VBMA meeting about residencies and post grad training.. One of our clinicians is on the Board of Regents for the ACVIM and he specifically spoke about internal med as one of the residencies that is putting out more diplomates then there are jobs.. He predicted that in coming years it is only going to get worse. 🙁

That's disappointing. I imagine this will only get worse for a lot of specialties. 🙁

 

[Doktor Timo]

There have been several studies through the AVMA that show that, from a strictly financial standpoint, most specialties are a great investment. The additional income (especially if you do private practice) pretty quickly makes up for what you miss out on when you're making intern/resident pay.

On the other end of the spectrum, doing an internship and NOT going on to specialize makes the least financial sense. One of their studies found that it would take 6-8 years to make up the income you would miss out on just from that one year of internship if you don't go on to specialize.

That's just financial considerations, obviously. The decision as a whole is far more complicated, but I wanted to throw that out there.

 

[DVMDream]

There have been several studies through the AVMA that show that, from a strictly financial standpoint, most specialties are a great investment.

I don't think anyone disagrees with this. Clearly if you can get board certified in say surgery and make over $150K that is a good financial place to be, however, it does zero good if you can't find a job in your specialty once you have the board certification, which is becoming a problem now.

 

[deleted498041]

There have been several studies through the AVMA that show that, from a strictly financial standpoint, most specialties are a great investment. The additional income (especially if you do private practice) pretty quickly makes up for what you miss out on when you're making intern/resident pay.

On the other end of the spectrum, doing an internship and NOT going on to specialize makes the least financial sense. One of their studies found that it would take 6-8 years to make up the income you would miss out on just from that one year of internship if you don't go on to specialize.

That's just financial considerations, obviously. The decision as a whole is far more complicated, but I wanted to throw that out there.

Could you share a link to any of those?

 

[Doktor Timo]

Could you share a link to any of those?

I've attached several PDFs that deal with these questions. I got all of these from Dr. Joe Bartges, a Medicine and Nutrition specialist at our school.

 

[Doktor Timo]

I don't think anyone disagrees with this. Clearly if you can get board certified in say surgery and make over $150K that is a good financial place to be, however, it does zero good if you can't find a job in your specialty once you have the board certification, which is becoming a problem now.

Clearly. Hence why I acknowledged that it's just one of many considerations when choosing a career path. But it's definitely information I didn't have until recently but had wondered about for a long time.

 

[deleted498041]

I've attached several PDFs that deal with these questions. I got all of these from Dr. Joe Bartges, a Medicine and Nutrition specialist at our school.

Thank you so much!