1. MedCAREERS Choosing the Right Career
Dr. Teri Stuckless, MD, FRCPC
Director, MedCAREERS
Faculty of Medicine, MUN
MedCAREERS Choosing the Right Career
October 7, 2016

2. OBJECTIVES Review the role of MedCAREERS in career planning
Discuss determinants of physician job satisfaction
Identify resources available that can help in career planning
Introduce you to CaRMS

3. Career Options Applying to Residency Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
MedCAREERS_I
Clerkship Preparation Course
Choosing the Right Career
CaRMS Document Preparation
MedCAREERS_II
Succeeding on the Wards
Early Prep for THE MATCH
Shadowing Orientation
OR Scrub Course
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
If we look at our curriculum, you can see this lecture fits in to the early part of phase 1
Pre-core Electives Discussion
(including international electives)
Elective/Selective Advice
(& introduction to online portal)
Choosing Electives

4. MedCAREERS Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Understanding Exploring
Yourself
Exploring
Options
Choosing a
Specialty
Getting into
Residency
Right now, most of you should be thinking about “what makes you tick” and, in general, what kind of pratice you picture yourself in when you are done. Do you like working along, or in a group? Do you like urban vs rural living? Do you need to make a lot of money? Do you like to ruminate over theories, or get your hands dirty?
At the same time, you should be exploring the many options that are open to you right now. You can be anything from a neurosurgeon to a geriatrician to a labortaory medicine expert. Many of you are probably not aware of all the options.
*modelled after Careers in Medicine

5. MedCAREERS Support Finding and understanding meaningful experiences.
Developing career management skills.
The MedCAREERS program aims to help you through this process. We want to help you find yourself and meaningful clinical experiences. We also aim to give you some of the practical skills you will need to get throught the CaRMS match and into residency.

6. Choosing the right career
Ultimately, planning your career is your responsibility.
We will guide you.
Career advisors
Faculty members
Staff
Residents, students
Lectures, shadowing, specialty night, electives, counselling, on-line resources, etc…

7. ? Medical School Residency Career (Fellowship)
Remember, this is just the first step. We are focusing on your journey through medical school. Some of you may decide very early on what you want to do, while others may find it a difficult decision. Ultimately, you need to stay focused and have direction, but also reserve the right to change your mind. As students move through medical school, residency, and into fellowship, they may change direction or even take a break from medicine. Some of you may elect to re-train after a time in the work force. So, don’t be anxious if you do not follow the straight line path. If you path looks like an S turn, the important thing is that you move through with purpose and direction.
Career

8. MedCAREERS Career Counselling Exploring your options
-early clinical experience
-academic content
-physician shadowing
-specialty night
-talking with faculty
-electives/selectives
Choosing a specialty
-electives/selectives
-lifestyle factors
-family commitments
-geographic considerations
-remuneration
-job availability
Applying to residency
-CV preparation
-CaRMS application
-Understanding the match
-Reference letters
-Dean’s letter

9. What do you want to be?
When you try to picture where you will end up, what are the things that you think are important to having a satisfying career?

10. CMA Specialty Profiles

11. Determinants of physician satisfaction
Hours worked per week
On call requirements
Academic involvement
Practice population, geography
Remuneration
Collegiality
Autonomy/control
EMR use
Work – life balance

12. Hours worked per week
Varies by specialty, depending on your type and location of practice
Salary vs fee-for-service
Group vs solo practice

13. On call requirements None All Group
Private practice, not affiliated with an institution/group.
All
Rural GP working alone without local supports.
Group
Shared with colleagues
Right now, there are a lot of GPs in the metro area who don’t do call. If a patient has an after hours emergency, they can simple go to the ER. Some GPs may offer on call services, especially if they are in a group practice where they can share the schedule. However, the remuneration from MCP is probably not adequate for the service that is provided. In a smaller community, the GP may have no choice but to be effectively “on call” every night. I understand the government recognizes that patients are probably best managed by their primary care provider and I hope that means that there will be changes in the fee schedules to properly compensate GPs so that they might be more able to participate in after hours care.

14. Academic involvement
Most academic institutions employ most specialties.
Competitve
Expectations
Teaching
Research
Policy development
Guideline development
If you want academic fulfillment, you might be happier in a larger academic institution, but if you are an independent worker who doesn’t need a lot of support, you might be able to fulfill this need in a smaller, rural environment.

15. Practice population
Urban GPs report better satisfaction than rural GPs
Why?
Isolation
Community expectations
On call
Privacy
__________

16. Remuneration

17. Remuneration, might influence not just your ultimate career choice, but also where you choose to do residencey. There are some significant differences in resident salary, depending on the province you are in.

18. CMA, Physician Data Centre: Canadian physician statistics, 2013-14
Fee for service billings, average

19. Determinants of physician satisfaction
Collegiality
Autonomy/control
EMR use
Work – life balance

20. What is most important to you?
For me to be happy, really I need to have time for my family, I need to have time to stay fit and I need to work with people who I like. All of the medical professions are important, so for me, I think I could probably be satisfied doing anything as long as these criteria are met.

21. Personal factors Health limitations Spousal support Children/family
Physical
Mental
Spousal support
Children/family
Don’t forget to think about your own personal priorities or concerns.

22. Brown – happy Green – less happy
At the end of the day, most of us are happy most of the time. There is probably more than one thing that will make you happy. So, while you want to be thinking about career planning as you go through your studies, try not to stress yourself out over it.
Source: 2004 CFPC/CMA/RCPSC National Physician Survey. *Includes CCFP and non-CCFP family physicians.

24. CaRMS
Because many of you want to know now….

25. Canadian Residency Matching Service
“The Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) is a national, independent, not-for-profit, fee-for-service organization that provides a fair, objective and transparent application and matching service for medical training throughout Canada.”

26. Discuss changes in ratio of grads to funded positions

27. Common myths about the residency matching process: https://www. afmc

28. Thank you!
Questions?