Weathering the Storm

It was July 1—my first day of fellowship. I was assigned to the cardiac ICU at Hopkins Bayview, the same unit where I had taken my first call as an intern and where I had run my first code.

Moments after receiving sign-out, an overhead page sounded, "CICU fellow, pick up line seven-five."

It took me a moment to realize that the call was for me. I picked up the phone.

"I'm calling from the emergency department. You need to get down here, stat. We have a patient in VT storm."

"VT storm?" I asked, with a squeezing sensation in my stomach. "Are you sure?"

New Physician Jobs Feature Hospital Employment

Primary care physicians remain in high demand, although the majority of job openings are for hospital employees, not in private practice, according to a new survey by Irving, Texas–based national physician search firm Merritt Hawkins.

For the sixth consecutive year, family practice and general internal medicine were the top 2 most-requested physician search assignments. They were followed by hospitalists, psychiatrists, orthopaedic surgeons, emergency medicine physicians, obstetrician/gynecologists, neurologists, general surgeons, and pediatricians.

Reimbursement cuts and declines in elective procedures have reduced the volume of search assignments for radiologists, cardiologists, and anesthesiologists. Those specialists, which were among the most requested searches 4 to 5 years ago, are now ranked 17th, 18th, and 19th.