Physician pivoting into ER

I’m a surgery resident at Columbia University pivoting into ER. Completely lost with the process since I convinced myself about it 2 weeks ago. Any advice? Will be happy to connect with anyone around NYC

46 Comments
 

Errrr, why don't you just ask hospital management? If you can pivot into the Emergency Room

 

You're an American? I'm curious about your story (physician too, though not American)

 
Most Helpful

Take a deep breath and calm down. I am aware that surgical residency is very tough and feels like a nightmare sometimes but it can be rewarding afterwards. There is always option to switching to management role after completing your residency to become an hospital ceo/executive director as well. All paths leads to great and stable life and income. 

The financial industry is known for great layoffs, switching careers and in every job application you will be competing against thousand applicants.

Consult your senior colleagues outside your netwok before you take such decision. 

Sovereign Wealth Fund Consultant
 

Sorry my mind can be foggy sometimes as I am trying to grasp what you really mean by more interesting biotech work !

You do realize that you are not actually working in the biotech company with exciting cutting edge scientific research but actually reporting published results/data?

You do realize that people who find biotech exciting tend to go for medical speciality rather than surgical speciality ?

Sovereign Wealth Fund Consultant
 

As a doctor (from a 3rd World nation), I'd imagine only IB/PE would be more lucrative that being an American surgeon. And I've not heard to many good things about ER being exceptionally lucrative on WSO (asides exit opps to other things like HF)—although wanting less stressful hours is valid (in that case, I'm not sure wanting biotech ER SPECIFICALLY is neccesary, I'd guess getting the finance knowledge-base is more important, except if biotech ER recruitment places value of a bio-related background)

 

Have consulted with mentors and colleagues already, this may sound odd but surgery was my plan b in the match and although I enjoy operating my ideal subspecialty is not accessible through general surgery. If I were going to pursue healthcare admin as a career path getting an MBA would be the way to go, most admins are not MD's. Unfortunately, it is not a free job market and switching to other specialties is controlled by the match where reapplying or switching is not favored within surgical subspecialties. 

 

Check out 'Fooled by Randomness' lol. Famous example - dentists have the best risk-adjusted career (after they made it thru dental school and have started practicing lol). Finance after adjusting for risk absolutely sucks balls compared to dentists and MDs lol

 

How long until you finish residency? Maybe worth crossing the finish line for that if you’ve already invested so much into it?

Either way I’m sure you have your reasons - Healthcare is a HUGE part of finance and you will absolutely be able to pivot. If you didn’t study finance in college, getting an MBA would definitely allow you to pivot, MAYBE if you network and spin your story the right way you can avoid that and go straight in. I would go on LinkedIn and find alumni of your school that are in ER and just cold email them to ask for advice eventually I think you’ll get a repeat and some good insight better than what I can give I just worked in IB.

 

Don’t listen to this guy…

You don’t need an MBA. You can do it now. And if you’re considering ER the only coverage group worth going into is biotech.

These are the smartest guys on the street. Don’t go into Restaurants ER or Consumer ER. Also you get paid a premium. In 4-5 years you’ll make analyst hopefully and pull an easy $1 mil. If you’re good this can scale to $5 mil a year not including Buyside exits.

 

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