Is physician job security a thing of the past?

[medbuddha]

I keep hearing that physician job security is no longer what it used to be and is continually declining. What are people’s thoughts on this? I know during 2020 the pandemic caused some changes but my question isn’t specifically about covid-related changes. I’m thinking more of industry-wide trends. I love medicine but as a non-trad, the stakes are higher (less time to practice) and the thought of incurring six figure debt from med school then not finding a job that allows me to pay it back is scary to say the least.

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[bottledchalk]

I don’t see how that could be true. There’s a physician shortage... Perhaps what is true is that some specialties are undergoing radical changes in the way they interface with society. E.g., anesthesiology with the whole “nurse anesthetist” angle.

 

[medbuddha]

I don’t see how that could be true. There’s a physician shortage... Perhaps what is true is that some specialties are undergoing radical changes in the way they interface with society. E.g., anesthesiology with the whole “nurse anesthetist” angle.

That’s what I thought as well, but when you research “physician job security,” there are so many articles that say otherwise... everything from post-covid changes to industry trends that began 20 years ago. I don’t know.

 

[star.buck]

Likely depends on what type of job you want. There’s also some question on the supposed “physician shortage”... it’s likely more of a physician distribution problem than actual shortage. I.E. primary care in urban areas is far less of a demand than rural in many places, same for many specialities.

Are you willing to move to an area that desperately needs doctors? You’ll be secure. You want a job where all the other docs do too? Probably not very secure.

 

[LunaOri]

Certain fields (pathology, anesthesiology) are over-saturated or have a lot of encroachment by midlevels. Most fields are secure.

 

[Goro]

I don’t see how that could be true. There’s a physician shortage... Perhaps what is true is that some specialties are undergoing radical changes in the way they interface with society. E.g., anesthesiology with the whole “nurse anesthetist” angle.

There is no physician shortage, only a maldistribution.

Once the Baby Boomer cohort of doctors retire, then there will likely be a shortage.

 

[NontradICUdoc]

I keep hearing that physician job security is no longer what it used to be and is continually declining. What are people’s thoughts on this? I know during 2020 the pandemic caused some changes but my question isn’t specifically about covid-related changes. I’m thinking more of industry-wide trends. I love medicine but as a non-trad, the stakes are higher (less time to practice) and the thought of incurring six figure debt from med school then not finding a job that allows me to pay it back is scary to say the least.

Just watching the idiocy on tik-tok and the "challenges" I think we are fine.