Public Health And Preventative Medicine Residency

[dynomedasaur]

Hi, is there any information on public health and preventative medicine (also known as... community medicine)?

Doing clerkship has opened my eyes to a lot more issues than I had originally believed existed in the community and it's made me feel more passionately towards fighting for bigger causes than the individual patients. 

Is it possible to land a job in government with a 2 year FM residency + an MPH? 
Or would it be preferred to have a 5 year community medicine residency (which I believe also provides a CCFP designation).?

[A-Stark]

The full PHPM residency would be preferred. Not all programs are combined with FM, but this is usually stated clearly in the CaRMS program descriptions. 

 

Jobs are not necessarily hard to come by, but might not exist where you want them, depending on what you're looking for (e.g. medical officer of health jobs). 

[LeBronto2019]

A resident in the program gave me this advice:

 

Clinical practice with some public health should be FM + MPH

Clinical practice with research should be FM + MSc/PhD

A mix of all three with some management and leadership training should be PHPM

 

Only concern with jobs nowadays is that you cannot become an MOH (if that is your plan) in larger centres without PHPM. But mixed clinical and public health jobs or working for govt or phac is fine with FM and MPH. 

[End Poverty]

On 8/7/2016 at 8:20 AM, A-Stark said:

The full PHPM residency would be preferred. Not all programs are combined with FM, but this is usually stated clearly in the CaRMS program descriptions. 

 

Jobs are not necessarily hard to come by, but might not exist where you want them, depending on what you're looking for (e.g. medical officer of health jobs). 

What are the MOH job prospects in Alberta?

[LeBronto2019]

On 4/23/2018 at 7:59 PM, Dr. End Poverty said:

What are the MOH job prospects in Alberta?

Unfortunately, it's quite saturated! Especially by the time we finish residency, there will already be plenty of PHPM graduates who will be looking to fill those spots. Know a few who have had to adjust their career paths upon graduating and others who got MOH positions but across the country. It's a little concerning so hopefully things look brighter soon. 

[End Poverty]

1 hour ago, rip said:

Unfortunately, it's quite saturated! Especially by the time we finish residency, there will already be plenty of PHPM graduates who will be looking to fill those spots. Know a few who have had to adjust their career paths upon graduating and others who got MOH positions but across the country. It's a little concerning so hopefully things look brighter soon. 

Do you know where is the most need for MOH positions? Is it required ( or preferred) to have few years of experience before you are able to work in bigger cities such as Calgary or Edmonton?

[LeBronto2019]

16 minutes ago, Dr. End Poverty said:

Do you know where is the most need for MOH positions? Is it required ( or preferred) to have few years of experience before you are able to work in bigger cities such as Calgary or Edmonton?

Not sure where it's needed the most but we may end up going to northern BC or Red Deer or more rural/remote sites if we want to become MOH. Would love to see where this field is heading in the next decade or so but limited job prospects are certainly concerning heading into carms.

[End Poverty]

3 minutes ago, rip said:

Not sure where it's needed the most but we may end up going to northern BC or Red Deer or more rural/remote sites if we want to become MOH. Would love to see where this field is heading in the next decade or so but limited job prospects are certainly concerning heading into carms.

Thanks for your response, rip!! Best of luck in Carms next year