Place of Practice after EM Residency

[La Fiera]

Hi,
I'm a first year medical student in Chicago. We had an ER resident speak to us about what he does. He also mentioned that it was virtually impossible to move to a different area and practice EM after residency. He explained that when you apply to a job, they have to know the people you worked with in residency, so it all stays in the same area, and if you try to get out of the area, no one knows you so its unlikely that you'll be able to get a job elsewhere. How true is this?
I really want to go back to the West, (Washington, Oregon, or Colorado specifically) and I know how hard it is to get a residency in EM especially in those states. So, I was considering going to another less popular state for my residency if I can't get a residency where I would like to live.
Also, does anyone know a website which rank the top EM residencies? Where are the most competetive?
Thanks!

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[The White Coat Investor]

There is some truth to the connections theory, but if you're good...you're good. The EM world is tiny, and you will always be making connections...with medical school buddies, residency buddies, people you meet at conferences etc. Its probably tough to get a job in Boulder, or Salt Lake, but most EM groups are only hiring emergency trained docs now, as they phase out the grandfathers. So, there are new spots opening everywhere. Get the most recent copy of Annals of EM and check out the ads for positions available in the back.

EM residencies on the coasts (especially west) and in academic programs with great reputations are very competitive. The programs in your states of choice, Denver, Oregon, and Madigan are all competitive. Madigan, for instance, had 290 applications for 4 spots this year.

No. There is no ranking website. If you tool around in this forum long enough, you'll realize there are a top 10 and a bottom 10, but thanks to the great residency review committee that EM enjoys, there is great parity among the rest of the programs. The top ones just aren't that much better than the bottom ones.

I'm glad you're considering going to a less competitive state. If you were dumb enough to apply only to OHSU, Madigan, and Denver, you could really be up a creek without an interview.

 

[spyderdoc]

I did my residency on the East coast and am practicing in Northern Cali. EM is more "immune" to the connections thing. It seems that there is a lot more mobility in this field. If I want, I can easily move to any area of the country and get a decent job...I suppose that all the creme de la creme jobs may be scooped up by local residents that moonlight at those ED's...
One notoriously tough area to get into is Portland, OR. The community hospitals there tend to hire the local OHSU residency grads...I guess a lot of inbreeding....Well, good luck....