Physicians who completed residency or fellowship in the last six years spend less than two years on average at their first job, according to a report by Jackson Physician Search and Medical Group Management Association.
That statistic compares to practicing physicians of all ages who spent an average of six years at their first job.
The report analyzed data from online surveys of 253 physicians and administrations during August and September.
Here are four things to know:
- The top factors physicians are considering for their first job include compensation (76%), location (64%), and work-life balance (38%).
- The top factors physicians cited for leaving their first job were practice ownership and governance models (35%) compensation and geographic preference (30%).
- The top factors physicians said would keep them at their job are compensation (48%), work-life balance (40%), and culture and environment (36%). However, administrators said the top factors they perceived as causing physicians to join and stay at their organization were the organization's reputation, practice ownership, and government and geographic preference.
- There was a positive correlation between administrator ratings of their organization and the percentage of early-career physicians who stay more than five years for all factors except student loan repayment, which had a -0.19 correlation.