VA psychiatry position
Started by PikminOC
I know several psychiatrists who work for the VA, but are also associated with a medical university so they also do a lot of academic/administrative work.
One thing they like about the VA is there are lots of resources available to the veterans that allows them to come up with more well rounded treatment plans. (Like for example getting housing for people in outpatient substance abuse treatment)
On the other hand, there are other areas where VA policy may tie your hands somewhat and not allow you to do something the way you would want it done.
Although overall both said they think working for the VA allows them to provide better patient care due to extra resources than if they had the exact same job outside the VA.
This may be different than some other fields where if you had good insurance it would be better to be treated elsewhere, but seeing as so many psych patients are poor/uninsured/etc, they have a lot more to offer them at the VA than they could get somewhere else.
pluses: mucho resources/programs for pts who otherwise wouldnt have them, very laid back schedule requiring, being paid 2.5x or so what you would make seeing the same amt of pts at that complexity of visit in the real world
minuses: knowing that all those resources/programs are being paid for with your money, the tremendous inefficiency of the VA system, making less money(even though are being paid 2.5x as much per pt you see 3.5x fewer pts ha)
