Originally posted by Gator05
HiFi, you rock. Since you might have interviewed at a few places before stopping at Baylor, do you have any observations on the east coast neonatology programs?
A few other questions...
What do you think the job market will look like in the near and far future? I'm not curious about reimbursement, but finding a job in a location you like.
Also, how did your experience as a resident compare with that as a fellow/attending?
Finally, thanks for supporting all us curious folk!
E Coast programs.
Boston Childrens is a very well respected program. I forgot to mention it last time.
A friend of mine, from the year behind me in fellowship is going to be faculty at UMDNJ...or whatever you call it ( Robert Wood johnston? In New Jersey. He says it's a good place. Also, I happen to know the director of Neonatology at a hospital in Manhassat , long island but I don't think they have a fellowship.
I don't know too much though about East Coast other wise since I never had the desire to live there . Sorry
I interviewed at rainbow babies. Univ Mich, Baylor, and Cincinatti only because I loved Cincinatti and Baylor so much I didn't want to waste time doing other interviews
The job market is fantastic at the moment.
When I was a second year resident, people told me I was crazy and that I would never ever get a job as a neonatologist, because I guess the job market was bad 5 or 6 years ago. I think those people were wrong because the job market is pretty good now.
Certain areas are saturated, but nothing like Peds cardiology for example.
Currently there are a few openings for neonatologists in private practice in the state of Michigan.
Go to neonatology.net. There are job advertisements there ( just a small percentage of what's actually offered though)
Things are WIDE OPEN in academic medicine. There will always be jobs for qualified people in academic medicine in neonatology.
AS pediatric residencies continue to water down the training that residents get in newborn medicine, pediatricians will get less and less comfortable in management of newborn problems. I think the job market, overall , will continue to improve.
US fellowships put out a total of about 500 neonatologists per year. That sounds like a lot, but not really. Many of the older docs are retiring. There are many private practice opportunities.
It can be difficult to narrow down a private practice job in the city of your choice though. Once all the hospitals have all the neonatologists they need, somebody has to leave, or they have to expand to hire new ones
Life as a resident was fun, but frankly, I got bored with general peds. I didn't feel like I was qualified to give parenting advice, since I don't have kids. I always felt like a fraud ! I liked critical care. I thought I knew a lot of neonatology when I finished my residency, adn then I started my fellowship and soon found out I knew Jack Squat! I would highly recommend applying to Baylor. The unit is so huge and so busy ( avg level 3 census was around 70 when I was there....up until last July ) and in 1 month, you would see so many problems. I felt like at the end of my first month, with all those terrifying night calls, I was ready for anything. After I was finished I really felt like I had gained a tremendous amount of experience, even though you learn from working with so many veteran docs, that you need to keep learning and that you need to have a deep respect always for how little you actually know, even if you have a lot of training and expertise.
Life as an attending is even better, but sometimes I miss somebody telling me what to do, when I am stumped and have to make a tough decision. I guess we all need to grow up eventually.
I wouldn't worry about the job market 10 years down the road.
I always told myself, I'd rather do something I enjoy in a sh*TTy job market than do something I didn't like just to have job security
I don't mind answering questions on this thread. I happen to be on call tonight and it's early and I seem to have a lot of free time ( though I probably just jinxed myself )