In general, medical residents really like what they do, though there is significant variation by state and medical specialty, according to newly released data from physician social network Doximity.
After analyzing 94,000 ratings and reviews from Doximity users, the San Francisco-based social network said that 91 percent of female residents and 94 percent of male residents rated their residency program at least four stars on a scale of five.
The states with the happiest residents were:
1. Oregon (100 percent rated their program 4 or 5)
2. Vermont (97.5 percent)
3. Utah (97 percent)
4. Minnesota (96.5 percent)
5. North Carolina (96 percent)
And the bottom five:
46. Oklahoma (81.5 percent)
47. South Dakota (80 percent)
48. Mississippi (79 percent)
49. Arkansas (78 percent)
50. Nevada (75 percent)
The data appear in Doximity’s newly released, second-annual Residency Navigator, an interactive tool intended to help medical students find suitable residency programs. According to the company, nearly three-quarters of all senior med students in the U.S. researched residencies on Doximity last year.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Participants in this year’s survey were asked to rate the “tolerability” of shift and call schedules as well as how flexible their schedules were for special events and emergencies, such as weddings, pregnacies or deaths.
The best work-life balance could be found in physical medicine and rehabilitation, according to Doximity. Dermatology, radiation oncology, orthopedic surgery and, surprisingly, emergency medicine, rounded out the top five among 22 medical specialties studied. Ranking lowest were OB/GYN, neurology and anesthesiology.
“Both dermatology and radiology are perceived to offer better hours than neurosurgery, but that is expected. The difference may be that dermatology programs meet or exceed expectations at a higher rate than radiology and neurosurgery programs,” Doximity Vice President for Product Management Shari Buck explained on the company blog.
Images: Doximity
