Physician Jobs

Earlier this year, both the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Cancer Society put out reports that shed light on the state of cancer care and the number of people likely to find themselves impacted by the dreaded disease. Frankly, they were rather disturbing. The ASCO report strongly indicated that when it comes to cancer care, fewer people are accepting physician jobs while the ACS report indicated that the number of new cancer diagnosis continues to remain uncomfortably high.

The areas said to be at most risk for becoming healthcare deserts are rural communities. However, city dwellers shouldn’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet. According to the statistics, cities also have physician jobs that are currently going unoccupied and the problem is only expected to get worse as the years go on. As a matter of fact, it is widely believed that the physician shortage won’t reach its apex until 2025. Thus, there is still time for physicians to enter or return to the workforce and help head off this looming health crisis at the pass.

On average, it typically takes individuals 13 years beyond high school graduation to become licensed oncologists. Eight of those years are generally evenly divided among undergraduate and medical school studies. The additional five years are normally spent completing internal medicine residencies and fellowships. Primary care doctors, by comparison, spend eight years beyond high school getting their Bachelor’s and Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathy degrees. From there, they usually enter residency programs, which vary in length based on their chosen field.

Therefore, it is also quite possible for existing primary care physicians to decide to return to school and complete the coursework needed to specialize in oncology.  As it stands now, the list of most common, deadly cancers to show up in our country includes, but isn’t restrained to the following:

• Bronchus and Lung Cancers
• Bladder and Prostate Cancers
• Rectum and Colon Cancers
• Breast and Uterine Cancers
• Liver and Pancreatic Cancers
• Stomach and Esophagus Cancers
• Skin and Thyroid Cancers

So in the future, we may see primary care physicians opting to focus their attention in those areas. To learn more about what is being done to fill open physician jobs and how existing or new doctors may help, please contact us. We are a first rate recruiting firm that can help prevent cancer care shortages from occurring in urban and rural communities alike.