The increasing demand for mental health care is having a positive effect on the popularity of psychiatry residents, according to physician-recruiting firm Merritt Hawkins.
In a survey conducted earlier this year, 78% of final-year psychiatry residents said that they had received more than 50 job solicitations during their training: 30% reported 51-100 offers, and 48% said they had gotten over 100, Merritt Hawkins said in its 2017 Survey of Final-Year Medical Residents.
Among the 935 responses the company received from residents in all specialties, 70% of residents had gotten more than 50 job offers: 20% received 51-100, and 50% received more than 100. The numbers were even higher for those in primary care: 21% had received at least 51-100 job solicitations, and 55% reported more than 100 offers, Merritt Hawkins reported.
“The search for newly trained physicians is on the verge of becoming a feeding frenzy,” said Mark Smith, the firm’s president. “There are simply not enough physicians coming out of training to go around.”
The 50% of all residents who received 100 or more job solicitations is the highest at that level since the survey began in 1991 (it is conducted every 2 or 3 years), with much lower figures seen as recently as 2008 – only 6% got that many offers – and 2006, when the number was 16%.
Demand for residents in other specialties is slightly lower, with 64% of residents in internal medicine, surgical, or diagnostic specialties getting more than 50 job offers, according to the report.
