Going to the States to work

[Guest ovaovum]

Hmm this might be a broad topic and open a can of worms...but im just curious about the rest of you folk...but have any of you thought of going to the States to work?

 

I mean - have you guys thought of going to the States because they have more money for research/equipement that would make your professional life a lot easier? (ignore the question if you have family/friends there)

 

I've never been to the states and seen the healthcare, but i've met some Canadians during CaRMS who went to a US med school and they said they'd nvr go back to america...interesting....

[Guest moo]

I think it depends on the person. I know at my institution, over the course of four years, I've had MANY Canadian-trained teachers. In fact, I just finished an echo/cardiac graphics elective, the director of which is a Canadian who trained at Dal for med school and residency. The clerkship director for when I was on anesthesia did med school in Manitoba. On ICU, my attending did his education at UT. One of my optho preceptors did her med school and residency at UT. Our medicine clerkship director is from Vancouver who trained at Michigan. I've had contacts with many other Canadians who did their training in Canada, the US, or elsewhere. Anyway, as I tell people there are pros and cons to working in the US. I think that if you are in primary care, it's probably best to stay in Canada (thats why I am going back to Canada). But if you aspire to do major research or are in a sub sub sub sub specialty, the US affords more opportunities. (How many electrophysiologists do you need in London, Ontario?)

 

Of course there are many things to consider as well. Family is one. Malpractice is another. If you are in a specialty where malpractice insurance costs an arm and a leg in the US, you'd probably want to practice in Canada. I think in general you do make more money in the US, but this varies from specialty to specialty. Primary care docs probably actually make more money in Canada than they do in the US.

[Guest Talon01]

Does anyone know what states you can work in once you're done your residency in Canada? Is this some form of test/exam that one must complete?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hey there,

 

Regarding this, there's a relatively young surgeon I know who completed his fellowship at one of the big hospitals in New York City. I've heard that generally, fellows are offered a job either: 1) from their home institution prior to leaving for the fellowship (since, if the home institution doesn't want to lose them then they'll make an offer up front); 2) at the fellowship institution. In his case he was offered both: a clinician scientist position at a big Canadian university before departing for the fellowship and a post-fellowship position consisting of 100% clinical time at the New York hospital. In his case, he declined the New York position in favour of returning to Canada to practice surgery and conduct research simultaneously, since the investigative aspect of the field was quite important to him. Everyone's values and the factors they feel are important to their career will differ and thus, will guide whether they make the decision to work somewhere exterior to Canada. What highlights the importance of research in his decision (and his values) is the offer that he was made by the New York institution: a starting salary of $1.2M US per year.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen