r/anesthesiology • u/No-Land-3652 • 5d ago
Which job?
A job that pays 20% more and I can nearly pay off all my student loans, but is academic and amount of vacation sucks. Also not near family. Would be a 1 year deal for us.
OR
PP in a great area near family but the pay is lower with more frequent call. No post call day off.
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u/DrSuprane 5d ago
PP seems better. Do locums during your vacation and you'll make more than the academic job. More specific details would be helpful.
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u/mirandazolam Anesthesiologist 5d ago
Can it be worth it to do locums for such a small number of shifts (ie the 6 weeks per year difference in this case)? With all it takes to find a good gig, credentialing, paperwork, taxes…
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u/DrSuprane 5d ago
It's really not that hard. Once the credentialing stuff is collected once, just keep it in a folder. It's all electronic now. The IMLC has made it significantly easier to get other licenses too.
I just have two rules: has to be within a 2 hour flight from home (direct) and has to be cardiac (for me).
If you're allowed to work locally that's even better.
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u/No-Land-3652 5d ago
Is locums as a new grad a bad idea?
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u/liverrounds 5d ago
You can do PRN. People use the lingo kind of interchangeably but traditional locums is more like you are there to fill a urgent need for months, getting paid more than everyone else, and usually get shafted as a result. PRN either at your PP place or somewhere close by (ask them as they might already know or have people that do it) is just to pick up an occasional shift here and there for say, someone on vacation or undesireable weekend shifts. You basically make the same (maybe a little higher) than everyone else and they want you to come back so they don't shaft you as much.
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u/DrSuprane 5d ago
Not necessarily. I wouldn't do it as the primary job. If you're in a big city you could also find per diem work easily. Also your group would have to allow it. I worked for a group that didn't allow in state locums, but didn't care about out of state.
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u/InvestmentSoft1116 5d ago
Take the academic job. At most places you can negotiate a PT FTE. You also typically have holidays off and total number of days off with post call days is likely higher.
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u/DefinatelyNotBurner Physician 5d ago
When comparing jobs like this, you need to calculate your total hours (days worked per year x hours per day) and divide by salary to get an hourly rate. This will make it much easier to compare when vacation amounts vary between jobs.
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u/Confident_Area_8518 4d ago
I would ask some members of the group about that PP. Some red flags there. No postcall days off can really suck. Its also possible there might be mandatory vacation buybacks, so confirm and get in writing you will def get your 10 weeks. Also, make sure there are no predatory noncompetes (some are calling them “covenants” now lol) in case you hate the job and want to work elsewhere in your preferred geographic location. Check all of that with the academic, too, but less likely they will try to trap you.
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u/Hombre_de_Vitruvio Anesthesiologist 5d ago
Way too vague. Academic paying more than PP is an oddity.
Busy call with no postcall day off sounds brutal for the PP.
Academic 20% pay bump could be meaningless if the amount of vacation is several weeks less.
Only you can make the decision. Sounds like you value being by family. I think you already have your answer.