Anesthesiology Job Market

[BCelectrophile]

I'm in 1st year med and thinking a lot about pursuing anesthesiology. From what I've seen on HealthmatchBC and other job posting sites, the job market in anesthesia in BC particularly is AMAZING, there are dozens of jobs all over BC and other provinces seem generally good as well. There is even a new "clinical fellowship" program to bring in American anesthesiologists to fill vacancies. Does anybody know why the job market in BC is so great?

Also, I'm concerned that if it's as great as it is now, then it might become saturated by the time I am done training. (especially if we are importing American anesthesiologists). Does gas have a boom/bust job market pattern? From posts on this forum it seems it has been generally good over the past 10 yrs or so. Just looking for any opinions/thoughts on the matter.
 

[shikimate]

I know in Ontario it is very good, you can work at small or medium centers without fellowship. Large academic hospitals vary. 

Anesthesia has a broad practice scope that most early medical students don't think of. For example outside of the typical OR anesthesia, they can do pain medicine, labor and delivery, dental anesthesia, even ICU with the appropriate fellowship. 

From what I heard, in US anesthesia job market is also reasonable, of course varies by geography but it's certainly not over saturated and renumeration overall is on par, or better than here. So I wouldn't be surprised if BC has difficulty attracting US anesthesiologists.

[robclem21]

Remuneration in BC for anesthesia is much lower than in other provinces, particularly compared to neighbouring AB, which is why they lose a lot of their trainees there. Most specialties are cyclical in terms of the job market, and anesthesia is no different. It is impossible to predict what it will be like 5 or 10 years, but in general the market across Canada is fairly good at the moment.

[medigeek]

12 hours ago, shikimate said:

I know in Ontario it is very good, you can work at small or medium centers without fellowship. Large academic hospitals vary. 

Anesthesia has a broad practice scope that most early medical students don't think of. For example outside of the typical OR anesthesia, they can do pain medicine, labor and delivery, dental anesthesia, even ICU with the appropriate fellowship. 

From what I heard, in US anesthesia job market is also reasonable, of course varies by geography but it's certainly not over saturated and renumeration overall is on par, or better than here. So I wouldn't be surprised if BC has difficulty attracting US anesthesiologists.

In USA, they just supervise CRNAs. 

[BCelectrophile]

On 12/10/2020 at 7:33 AM, robclem21 said:

Remuneration in BC for anesthesia is much lower than in other provinces, particularly compared to neighbouring AB, which is why they lose a lot of their trainees there. Most specialties are cyclical in terms of the job market, and anesthesia is no different. It is impossible to predict what it will be like 5 or 10 years, but in general the market across Canada is fairly good at the moment.

Interesting. Do you know a source where we can see income stats for different provinces? I did a google search and it seems BC anesthesiologists tried to go on strike in 2012 due to low pay and the province bringing in too many international trainees. Did nothing come of that? That's pretty brutal that the province with the highest COL also has the lowest pay.

[Cupboardsauce]

Hi - senior anesthesiology resident

There are lots of jobs in BC right now, everywhere.   Friends from UBC are getting hired out of R4, with multiple academic and non-academic sites to choose from in Vancouver alone. This is not even including great rural areas that also have lots of spots. There are so many jobs right now in BC and across the country that I imagine the job market will still be reliably good for a long while.

Why? A couple of the major academic hospitals in Vancouver are expanding to increase the number of ORs. Also, the same major hospitals are adding out-of-OR spots like a DOBA (dedicated OB position) and peri-op/pain/clinic positions - and smaller hospitals are also looking to do the same. Then COVID hit, and the province is now trying a province wide amp up of the ORs to makeup for the lost time. A lot of anesthesiology groups (not dissimilar to the nursing and surgeon groups) just don't have the numbers to cover the proposed extended hours. And as I understand it there has been a projected shortage for awhile and the province hasn't done a great job at recruiting/increasing training program spots.

Pay wise Albertan anesthesiologists are making more - probably somewhere in the 25-30% range. However if you've been following AB politics in the last 6 months, the current provincial government has fractured relationships with nursing and physician groups alike...so from where I'm sitting I'm not super keen on AB over BC. Also, it is possible the pay difference might be decreasing if changes from the AB government take place. If you want a ball park, BC publishes all physician salaries in a MSP blue book but AB does not -however  I think you'll find that BC anesthesiology wages lead to a comfortable life even in Vancouver.  

Do some shadowing and check it out, it's a great career and residency!