Determining Where You Will Practice

The first step in the job selection process is to create a self-evaluative profile so that you can determine your preferred location. According to Dr. Shaw, new physicians only stay at their first job for about three years. Relocation is expensive in terms of reestablishing personal and professional relationships and rebuilding your patient base. If you take the time now to choose your ideal location, you can avoid a costly mistake later on down the road. The following factors are all significant:

City/Town Statistics
· Cost of Living
· Various City Rankings (or This Site)
· Crime Rates
· Climate
· Quality of Schools

Marital and Family Status – These factors are relatively self-explanatory, but I mention them because for many physicians they are the most important consideration. Keep in mind that if your spouse is also a physician, you need to find an area that can support each of your specialties.

Your Specialty – Be aware of how the demographics of a location will affect your practice. For example, if you are a pediatrician or your specialty is geriatrics, the U.S. Census Bureau is a great resource to analyze age data by geography.

Also note that in addition to a higher cost of living, salaries in large cities generally tend to be lower than they are in rural and less populated areas where there is less competition. There are, however, many exceptions to this rule. We will cover salaries and benefits (disability insurance, of course) in more detail later in this blog series.