Each year, Health eCareers publishes a comprehensive Salary Guide that focuses not just on compensation but also on employment trends within the industry. Data used in the guide is compiled from the survey responses of more than 20,000 participating healthcare professionals, with more than 7,500 of those also providing specific salary information for this year's guide. Respondents for the 2018-2019 guide included physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, most working full time in their positions. After the guide is published, we always dive a little deeper into some of the trends that it reveals. When we did this for the recent version, we discovered that a majority of survey respondents are possibly or definitely planning looking for a new job. A little over a third of respondents—35 percent—reported that they were happy in their current position and weren't planning on searching for a new job anytime soon. That number was up 14 percent from the previous year, with the top six happiest specialties being ophthalmology, otolaryngology, dermatology, rheumatology, geriatrics, and orthopedics. But the other 65 percent of respondents had a different story to tell. While 34 percent said they are generally happy in their current job, they said they would be open to a new opportunity if the right one came along. Another 22 percent stated that although they were generally happy, they were looking for a new job for a variety of reasons, while another 9 percent were unhappy and definitely looking to change. (To be clear, we're talking about physicians changing jobs or employers, or switching their focus to a different medical-based career, not abandoning medicine altogether.) So, what makes physicians want to change jobs, even when they say they're happy in their current one? We asked a few physicians their thoughts on the subject, and though most weren't willing to reveal their real names (because they don't want their current employers to know they're looking elsewhere), their answers helped us make a little sense of the issue. Here are the top three reasons a physician might go job-hunting: 1. The Desire for a Better Work Environment and/or Better Hours It's no secret that many healthcare professionals feel burnout in their current positions. Burnout can be caused by doctors being forced to cram too many patients into one day, not having enough time to spend with each patient, having too much paperwork to fill out, and not having enough personal time. Burnout can also be the result of being in a toxic work environment, says Mike S., a doctor who practices internal medicine in Kansas and would like to remain anonymous. "I like my actual job and my patients, but I'm not sure how much longer I can work for this medical group," he says. "I currently report to a 70-something physician who went to medical school decades before the rest of us did. He's very stubborn and not willing to keep up with the most current medical research, and he actually makes fun of us if we have a suggestion or treatment plan that sounds 'New Age' to him. It's a very difficult place to work, and I'm looking for something else." A healthy work environment is essential to job satisfaction, says Tyler Friedrich, MD, a hospitalist in Denver who says he is very happy in his current job. "I work for a small, physician-run practice that prioritizes things like work-life balance, teamwork, employee wellness, and all of the other reasons to join a practice. Burnout and turnover are quite low." 2. The Desire (or Need) to Relocate Chris M., a family-medicine doctor who works with a large group practice in Los Angeles, has always wondered what it would be like to work in rural medicine. "I thought I would be happy with this job, because I grew up in a small town and always wanted to experience living and working in a big city," he says. "But I recently realized that I really miss small-town life. I want to live in a rural area again and be one of the only doctors for miles around, and my family was totally on board with the idea." He recently accepted a position at a small clinic in Idaho, and he'll be relocating soon, although he says that comes with a lot of other challenges. "My new job wanted me to start within a month, but my old job requires more notice than that. Plus, I don't want to take my kids out of school until the school year is over." Brenda T., an Ob-Gyn in Pennsylvania, says she's also going to have to relocate soon, but she isn't as thrilled about it as Chris is. "I love my job, but my husband got a great position he really wanted in another state, and I'll be looking for something else soon," she says. "He supported me the whole time I was in medical school, and now it's his turn." 3. The Desire for a Higher Salary According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare hiring, overall, has continued to increase since early 2017, with more than 300,000 new jobs added between December 2017 and November 2018 alone. Because of the resulting shortage of qualified healthcare workers, the majority of employers who contributed to Health eCareers' annual Recruiting Trends Report said they were paying existing staff higher salaries than the previous year and were offering higher salaries to new hires as well. According to the Salary Guide, the median base annual salary for cardiologists is $400,000; $375,000 for orthopedics; and $275,000 for neurologists. So what would make a physician think they still weren't being paid enough? Friedrich, who says he is happy with his hospitalist salary, tells us there are a number of possible reasons for this. "Doctors incur a lot of debt in medical school," he says. "The mortgage-sized student loan payments and lack of assets that are common to most early-career physicians can be discouraging to a lot of people." He says there's also a tendency in our society to always want more, even when you are making a lot of money. Natalie B., MD, a pediatrician from the Chicago area, says she recently considered switching jobs when she found out that one of her friends from medical school, now a dermatologist, was making nearly twice the salary for the same amount of education. "I was very upset at first," she says, "because it didn't seem fair. But then I realized that I specialized in pediatrics because I love children, and that was enough for me to stay where I am. I also got a nice raise about a month later, so that helped." There is always another job out there that will pay more, Friedrich says, "but it usually means making sacrifices in the more important variables that factor into job satisfaction, like being fulfilled by the work you're doing, enjoying the day-to-day, and liking the people you work with." Source
