While my career has been a good one until now, I'm increasingly worried about the field of emergency medicine. See my October 21 blog on the current dearth of emergency medicine jobs. The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) recently published a report on the future of the field's workforce, concluding that there will be nearly 10,000 too many emergency physicians by 2030.
Dr. Thomas Cook published a piece recently called A Few Feasible Solutions to EM's Workforce Crisis. He demonstrates a healthy skepticism for the possible solutions that ACEP proposed. See his piece here.
In the meantime, corporate emergency medicine is depleting some physicians. A group has even considered unionizing.
In addition, burnout has been a big problem for the field - even before the pandemic.
Medical students, as great as the specialty of emergency medicine is in many ways, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you to consider these issues seriously when making a decision about your future field.
