<p>*I don't mean new MDs. I mean new doctors, people who have completed residency, fellowship, etc.</p>
<p>I am not talking about the elites who were at Harvard, Penn, JH, etc.</p>
<p>I am talking about the people who graduate from and do residency at places like Arkansas (no offense to UAMS students).</p>
<p>With the economy the way it is, I imagine that the medical field must have taken a hit.</p>
<p>Do institutions typically hire their previous residents?</p>
<p>Absolutely. </p>
<p>My general feeling is that if a physician can’t find a job, then they are simply refusing to accept a position that is slightly less than ideal. They have issues with the call schedule or the pay model or the location of the practice, or something else that is overly selective. While everyone has their “must haves” to be so inflexible as to remain unemployed is really irrational in my opinion.</p>
<p>As far as your bias against Arkansas, your thinking is flawed in many ways. Every medical school has strengths and weaknesses. I’m a peds resident so that’s what I know, but for example, in pediatrics, the University of Cincinnati is a powerhouse, easily a top 5 residency program, with multiple highly regarded fellowship programs. Duke, on the other hand, while a place that sounds better to the layperson, is not a place that is going to raise many pediatricians’ eyebrows. Arkansas Children’s Hospital is actually pretty highly thought of particularly in fields like critical care and cardiology - easily one of the best in the South. And if it wasn’t in Arkansas, the Children’s Hospital would probably be a destination residency program, but the stigma of the state holds it back some… </p>
<p>Many academic centers will look out for their own, but for plenty of residents, staying in academia is the last thing they want to do. One of the key things to consider is the importance of geography. Despite how excellent the training for Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt or Mayo might be, if you know you want to live in Portland OR, you’re going to have a more difficult time finding a job by going to Vanderbilt compared to going to some community program in Portland or Seattle. I’ve seen data that said the majority of physicians end up practicing within 100 miles of where they completed their last step of training, although those who go onto fellowship have higher mobility after finishing.</p>