trends in EM

[med99]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I am MSII and am starting to think about what I want to do.
Shift work and/or lower hours appeal to me because I am a family man, 2 kids since starting medical school.
I have been reading a lot about gas and rad and have noticed that both have huge historical fluxes in availablity of jobs and pay. Stablity is valuable to me which begs the question of how stable EM is? Gas had it rough in the 90. Does EM have any similar history? Is their any reason to believe that things might be tight later?

I appreciate any imput

 

[12R34Y]

I personally believe that EM docs will be needed for quite some time. Having said that my opinion doesn't mean a whole lot.

secondly, if the main reason is for the hours and shift work i would make sure you definately rotate through an ED for a while because you may hate the work of an EM doc even though the hours are nice.

bottom line. don't make that the only reason you are considering it.

I think the outlook on EM is very bright. I haven't heard of any one I know personally not getting any offers right out of residency and several of my attendings say they get job offers all of the time.

later

 

[The White Coat Investor]

bottom line. don't make that the only reason you are considering it.

I think the outlook on EM is very bright.

Agreed..........

 

[roja]

I completely agree. It doesnt' matter if the shift work fits your lifestyle if you absolutely hate what you are doing. The key is to find a field you love that will also work with your lifestyle. There are so many options (outside of things like surgery) that you can do in medicine.

Dont' get me wrong. I *love* EM. However, I know rotators that come through and it doesn't matter that they are having more days off, they hate being in the ED and thus are incredibly unhappy during the rotation. So, give it a shot during your 3rd/4th year and see if you like it. You can even get a heads up by shadowing someone in your ED during the summer.

 

[Joejitsu]

EM has not had fluxes in the job market thus far and as far as almost everyone believes there will be plenty of good jobs for EM trained physicians for quite some time. The vast majority of EDs in the US are still staffed by more IM and FP docs than EM trained because there simply aren't enough EM guys to go around. However, when going head to head an EM trained physician will almost always get the job over a non-EM trained physician. As a side note it always makes me concerned for my peers when I hear them say stuff like, "yeah, I chose IM so I can be an ED doc later if I want." Most of the time I have to bite my lip so I don't burst their bubble and tell them that those jobs will slip into obscurity in the future. Anyway, as far as EM jobs go there are plenty to go around. Of course all of the greedy bastards want to work in SoCal so you won't get paid as much there as elsewhere, but you will still make a good living.

As far as going into EM for hours and time off, like the above posters have indicated, that should definitely not be your prime consideration. While lifestyle should not be overlooked completely (regardless of what some dumb attendings tell you) you cannot fall into the trap of making it your driving factor. Probably the majority of the "unhappy" EM physicians are those that chose it (or convinced themselves they liked it) because of lifestyle. You do not want to go into something that you will end up hating for the rest of your life.

Joe

 

[addicted2hope]

I am MSII and am starting to think about what I want to do.
Shift work and/or lower hours appeal to me because I am a family man, 2 kids since starting medical school.
I have been reading a lot about gas and rad and have noticed that both have huge historical fluxes in availablity of jobs and pay. Stablity is valuable to me which begs the question of how stable EM is? Gas had it rough in the 90. Does EM have any similar history? Is their any reason to believe that things might be tight later?

I appreciate any imput

Shift work is not isolated to EM. There are many avenues opening up which have the possibility of shift work - hospitalist, Critical Care specialist/intensivist... and these areas will surely be stable for a long time to come, with the increase in the geriatic population and ICU usage. You might want to consider exploring these and an IM/EM combined residency if you are not sure and also want to be insured against fluxes in availability of jobs and pay.

And then there are the life-style specialties, if your main issue is lifestyle. 👍

 

[pratik7]

The PAs are comming...The PAs are comming...The PAs are comming...The PAs are comming...The PAs are comming...The PAs are comming...The PAs are comming...The PAs are comming...The PAs are comming...The PAs are comming

 

[FoughtFyr]

WTF? The PAs are comming? 😕

Yep, we're gonna make them use radios

Get it "comm"ing.. radios... com links... oh, well!

BTW - The PAs are here (thank God, we can use the help!)

- H

 

[Daiphon]

Dr.? Dr. my white honky *ss... perhaps on a technicality. d=)

and, bad joke dude...

on a completely different idea, a comment was made earlier about im/em... i contend that most hospitals would take this and pigeonhole people into a hospitalist job with occasional moonlighting in the er. I don't think it would be all that effective... thoughts?

-t

 

[docB]

None of the primary docs in my town are running their clinica 24/7. None of them can give a patient an appointment in less than a week and all of their voice mail systems say that if you're actually sick you should go to the ER so I think we'll all have plenty to do for the forseeable future.

 

[FoughtFyr]

Dr.? Dr. my white honky *ss... perhaps on a technicality. d=)
-t

Hey, I walked across the stage (and I've got pictures to prove it!) 😛

- H

 

[Sessamoid]

Of course all of the greedy bastards want to work in SoCal so you won't get paid as much there as elsewhere, but you will still make a good living.

Joe

I used to think that until I moved here. There are some EPs making some pretty serious cash here in SoCal. I hope to be one of them pretty soon.