Did you move for residency or stay put?

I was under the impression that most docs wound up working in the area they do their residency or fellowship?

Research supports that this is generally true. It makes sense, too because it easier to develop contacts where you are. I didn't think we would stay here, but it is seeming like it will be more of an option. I really don't want to move unless it is back "home" which doesn't really feel all that much like home anymore.

[SuzySunshine]

I think whether or not you practice near your residency depends on two things mostly, your specialty and whether you do academic or not. Because my DH wants to do academic neurosurgery our choices will be fewer and therefore we could end up close or not!

[Sheherezade]

For us, a move was necessary after training to find the kind of position DH wanted. (Academic, mostly clinical) It is probably more difficult to stay put in the end if your specialty is rare. Spots in your town might not be open -- on the other hand, you are in high demand elsewhere in the country. In academics, it seems people move a lot to move up the ladder. We are trying to stay put until the kids are through school. Still, I am under the impression you don't get to be chairman or department head without moving around. (Yuck) After college, my Ph.D. training, his med school, his residency and his fellowship, the adventure of moving wore thin for me. Maybe it was the dealing with the trauma to the kids. It is much harder on kids. My personal opinion on stay put or move is that moving is the way to go for maximum career advancement, but staying put is easier on the marriage and family. You have to build a support network everywhere you go unless you can move near family (and once you are moving - you have no control over where you end up). I was ok with the moving stresses until the kids hit school age. Now -- the scales have tipped.

Just to clarify....I think most of that research is related to primary care and that people tend to practice where they do residency.

[migirl]

In academics, it seems people move a lot to move up the ladder. ... I am under the impression you don't get to be chairman or department head without moving around.

I think I would tend to agree with this. We were just discussing this last night, as DH has to decide by the end of this PGY on the type of fellowship he wants to do. While he would love to stay in our current location for fellowship training and an eventual attending spot (wants to do academic urology), he seems to think it would be easier to move up within the department if he went away for a while (did some training elsewhere) and came back. While it's not my favorite scenario (I'd be happy to stay here forever!), I guess I'll have to suck it up if the time comes.

We moved from Chicago to California for general surgery residency. We wanted to stay put but the match dictated otherwise. DH got his 3rd choice so we knew it was possible that we would be moving. Moving didn't bother me at the time because I wanted to live in Boston (2nd choice) or California. The move was great for my DH because for the most part, he likes his program as well as being trained in California. Looking back now, I wish we could have stayed in Chicago. It was REALLY difficult leaving a good job, social network and an independent life that I had worked so hard to establish.

[Rapunzel]

We moved from Texas to Boston for residency. My husband's transitional (intern) year was spent in Texas, though. We lived near family in Texas during medical school and I would not have traded that for the world. I seriously do not think I or my marriage would have survived without having my family near us during those grueling years!

It's been difficult living in such a *different* place and one so far away from family support (1800 miles away actually) during most of residency. But, since my kids are a bit older now (well, some of them are - we just got a "new" one a few days ago ) I think it's a little easier for me to enjoy the adventure of living so far away from "home" and family.

Jennifer

[mommax3]

We moved from Indianapolis to San Antonio for residency, courtesy of the Air Force. DH did the HPSP scholarship through med school, and had preferenced a civilian residency first, but didn't get it. When he found out the military had selected him for an active duty residency, (on December 18, 1996.....I will never forget it!) we walked around with our jaws hanging open for about the next month. We had a 2 year old when we moved to San Antone, and after the culture shock wore off, we loved it there. We moved again, after residency, to another Texas base 6 hours north of San Antonio and weren't big fans of that location. DH finished his payback to the Air Force and we moved back to Indianapolis about a month ago, and we are pretty sure we're here to stay, although we may move once more in 4 or 5 years to a different house. We both grew up in Indiana, and my mother and father live within an hour og us, but DH's parents now live in KS and we were closer to them before we moved this last time. Our siblings are in Charlotte, NC; New York, NY; Cincinatti, OH; and Kansas City, KS. I do have two half-siblings here in Indiana who are college-aged. We won't have a lot of family support here, but at this point, we aren't used to having it, so it is a non-issue. We seriously considered staying in TX and moving near friends (and family -- DH's cousin -- who are also friends) but the job here was a lot better than the job available there.

I am glad we moved to Texas because otherwise we would have never left Indiana, and we would have missed A LOT! Although we are back here now, I feel like we look at everything with different eyes and our horizons have definitely been broadened!

It is really an adventure....the only advice I can really give is to hang on! (And hang out here, of course!)

Sally

[Vishenka69]

We didn't move too much for either med school or residency (different boroughs of NY don't really count as serious moving). I tend to disagree that one doesn't have a choice. We chose not to leave the city because our friends and family are here and because it would have been much harder for me to find a job unless we were in a large city. While DH did apply to some med schools pretty far away, all his residency choices (which we made together) were in the vicinity of NYC. On bad days he still talks about "the awesome program in Pittsburg," but we both know that moving there would have been unrealistic. I would never be able to offer him the same support I do now if I was misrable myself.

I think that is a huge advantage of living in NYC -- so many residency programs to apply to!
Spiritdancer -- that might help you out in the residency planning -- if you are looking at larger cities that probably have more med schools and thus more residency programs (probably more private programs, too?).

[Vanquisher]

Well, being from Utah, we only had one medical school, and any other schools within hundreds of miles of us were all state schools and didn't take out-of-state residents. DH did not get into Utah (very competitive) and we ended up in Albany, NY. We didn't want to stay there, and because of dh's residency choice (competitive), we ended up in South Carolina.

Sometimes you don't have a choice. I hate being so far away from my family, and it really blows. If I could drive for a whole day and see my family, it would be nice, but alas, I have to spend $400+ bucks a piece for airline tickets and take flights that last all day, with at least one stop, most likely two, and that's if I don't have to drive hundreds of miles to different airports.

I am in SLC now, and to get a decent enough flight that didn't kill my bank account so I could be here for my sister's wedding, I had to drive an hour to charlotte, fly to Las Vegas, and then drive 7 hours to my parents house in SLC.

It sucks. Sometimes you just need your family. Crap, I'm about to cry again. I need to log off and do something else so I stop thinging about all this. :@