Public health and preventive medicine.. job prospects/ renumeration

[Bookmark311]

What r job prospects? What’s the numeration like? 

[GH0ST]

Hello there, 

Please note that these are just based on my limited experience and not a reflection of the program I am in nor the thoughts of medical officers of health throughout the country. 

---------------------------

http://www.phpc-mspc.ca/en/students/what-is-phpm/

https://www.cma.ca/sites/default/files/2019-01/public-health-e.pdf - average renumeration and work types 

I would say in general there are opportunities but the nature of the work is that you have to start by looking around areas based on need (ex. there are numerous medical officer of health positions consistently required for Northern BC, Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Yukon, NWT...this is not an exhaustive list) and jobs are less likely offered elsewhere unless you are connected. I would say like most government or business related jobs that networking here is very important. 

It also will highly depend on what area of population health you are interested in and how tolerant you are of the political nature of the work. Do you have interest in being a faculty member? Communicable disease control vs non-communicable disease control? Health policy interests? Environmental health? Health promotion?

It definitely is a different type of medical specialty as the focus becomes less about individual medicine and more using clinical medicine as background information to bolster your own skills in population level medicine. There's also an element of understanding how to work well with people outside of medicine as well. 

Hope this helps. 

- G 

[Bookmark311]

On 3/7/2020 at 8:59 PM, GH0ST said:

Hello there, 

Please note that these are just based on my limited experience and not a reflection of the program I am in nor the thoughts of medical officers of health throughout the country. 

---------------------------

http://www.phpc-mspc.ca/en/students/what-is-phpm/

https://www.cma.ca/sites/default/files/2019-01/public-health-e.pdf - average renumeration and work types 

I would say in general there are opportunities but the nature of the work is that you have to start by looking around areas based on need (ex. there are numerous medical officer of health positions consistently required for Northern BC, Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Yukon, NWT...this is not an exhaustive list) and jobs are less likely offered elsewhere unless you are connected. I would say like most government or business related jobs that networking here is very important. 

It also will highly depend on what area of population health you are interested in and how tolerant you are of the political nature of the work. Do you have interest in being a faculty member? Communicable disease control vs non-communicable disease control? Health policy interests? Environmental health? Health promotion?

It definitely is a different type of medical specialty as the focus becomes less about individual medicine and more using clinical medicine as background information to bolster your own skills in population level medicine. There's also an element of understanding how to work well with people outside of medicine as well. 

Hope this helps. 

- G 

How competitive is PHPM residency?

[shikimate]

Renumeration is relatively on the lower end for RCPSC trained physicians, usually about 250-300K in Ontario (search the sunshine list and see for yourself). But I imagine if that allows you to enroll in one of the government defined benefit pensions then it kinda make up for it because DB pension is so good and so rare now. Not sure if you can moonlight with your CCFP certification, that would be some nice icing on the cake though, put your moonlight income in your corp and have a DB pension from the government when you retire.

[Egg_McMuffin]

You can start moonlighting as a family doc after you finish the family med portion of your residency, while you're doing your public health rotations (typically last couple years of residency)-- and you will have time to do that because you won't be working 80 hour weeks like other specialty residents. You get a master's out of it too while paid as a resident which is nice.