Mr. Picard makes it sound like presumptuous, young docs refuse to compromise their dreams and would rather be unemployed than work in rural towns: How poor HR planning leads to unemployed doctors – The Globe and Mail.
He’s wrong.
No doubt, some physicians would sooner be unemployed than work as the only specialist in a rural setting where they are on call 24-7. But, most unemployed docs are surgeons who can’t get operating room time.
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If the system can’t pay for surgical suites, then surgeons can’t work, and patients will continue to suffer on waiting lists.
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Let’s work together to find system solutions to patient waits and unemployed physicians instead of distracting with gratuitous slams on doctors.
This would be a good letter to the Globe and Mail. Doubt they would publish a letter so truthful, but there’s always a chance they might miss the point and publish it, and it would get wider readership.
Thanks for your comment, Marko!
I will take your advice…we’ll see.
Shawn
“Mr. Picard makes it sound like presumptuous, young docs refuse to compromise their dreams and would rather be unemployed than work in rural towns.”
Sounds about right to me. I am a recent specialty grad and had my CHOICE of numerous great positions. Why? Because I was willing to live in a city other than TO/Mtl/YVR/Cgy. All of the young specialists I know who were flexible like this are happily employed, and just chuckle at all of the doom-and-gloom from new “unemployed doctors.”
Guess what? Toronto doesn’t need any more radiologists. You picked your specialty; if it isn’t needed in a given area, you may need to move to one where it is. Physicians fiercely defend their status as private contractors, and yet expect the system to be engineered to give them jobs in their city of choice?
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. While I usually only approve comments from people who leave their name, your comment is great, and you sound honest.
What you describe has existed for decades. If new grads demand to work in a teaching hospital, they might not get any work at all. New docs have always known that prestigious posts require fellowships and usually an inside contact, but there was always work in small towns or up north. I think it’s equivocating to say these docs are unemployed in the traditional sense of ‘can’t find work anywhere’.
Today, we witness an unusual situation of trained specialist surgeons with no operating rooms open for them, anywhere; not in small towns, not up north, no where in Ontario. These surgeons actually are employed as surgical assistants, or helpers in clinics, but they cannot work as surgeons even though long lists of patients need their services.
To mislead the public to think that these new surgeons can’t find work because they simply refuse to leave Toronto, or that the OMA had some role to play in providing operating room time, is dishonest and unfair.
I am thrilled to hear that you found work, were flexible, and support others following your lead. I’d love to hear where you found work and whether you know of other opportunities in your specialty?
Thanks again for your post!
Best,
Shawn