popular or unpopular any thoughts on physicians leaving NYC for safe states

[resident_1]

Situation is NYC and other hot spots is sobering. There are already reports of lack of PPE, loosening of safety protocols by administrators, lack of support for physicians. And we are just starting to have a surge (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/g...-are-terrified).
What is tragic is that it feels in states with much lower case #s we are like in a different country (NYC vs AZ; Italy vs Greenland).
What happens when PPE situation gets even worse (i.e possibly next week). Will you still be there, or will you pack up your family and move to safer state and not risk dying when administrators and government are sitting on their hands? Have you had this discussion with your spouse/parents/kids?

[Cubicle]

I think many have thought of this. I have not thought of relocating. Maybe because I have no wife, no children, & am relatively healthy. I banned my parents from going to the stores. They were at Costco today to buy croissants. ... Yeah.

[HikingDO]

I will not work without proper PPE, and I’m in Arizona and we’re already running low.

[DMAL]

Is there really such a thing as a safe state? Isnt this what happened Italy? Folks trying to run away to "safer" parts of the country only ended up spreading it further

[aerofreaky11]

The safety of a place is time dependent. Have you seen the reports and surveys showing a lack of taking precautions in many parts of the country? So, perhaps, not if but when.

[fasteddie911]

Friend is in NYC working mostly outpatient with some inpatient, not front lines though. Says a few colleagues have completely ghosted without a word, and friend is left to pickup the slack.

[ticker]

I've been absolutely lit up this week by locums recruiters. I suspect this just means that the usual locums players are staying away from jobs. I hope it's not that hospitals are experiencing staff physicians going AWOL.

[Dusn]

Every other state is going to become like NYC is an a short time. We have no PPE in the semi-rural south and the HCA owned hospital is laying off doctors and nurses because of sudden drop in revenue

[Tim]

You can run but you can’t hide. Anecdotally, vacation house locations were a natural. Cape May formally requested vacation owners to stay away. Locals were actually refusing service. Fine, sue me. See the sign, owner reserves the right to refuse service. That was for hiding.
If your specialty is useful, same job but likely lower support. No options in the other specialties.

[CordMcNally]

Friend is in NYC working mostly outpatient with some inpatient, not front lines though. Says a few colleagues have completely ghosted without a word, and friend is left to pickup the slack.

Is this an employed position, I imagine?

[CordMcNally]

Every other state is going to become like NYC is an a short time. We have no PPE in the semi-rural south and the HCA owned hospital is laying off doctors and nurses because of sudden drop in revenue

Another example of how private equity is bad for medicine. Laying off staff is only going to make things worse.

[FunkDoc83]

I don't like the idea of physicians leaving for "safer areas" because what if they are needed to help during the surge? Physicians are leaders and in times of crisis, people look to leaders on what to do. Also, imagine if the police quit doing their jobs during times of crisis, how is that any different. We need to do what we are trained to do in the middle of this battle despite the risk. I know admins are seen as the enemy sometimes , but in my area, everyone is working together and rallying around each other to fight this thing.

[StarTrekDoc]

Each one of us has their own threshold on what's the right thing and we should all respect that for what this is. At the same time, elevate and support those that rise.

As my fellow colleague said; these times will palpably reflect those who will rise. She recalls the N1H1 epidemic -- the folk that really weren't part of the solution pre-epidemic predictably weren't part of the rising group either.

My bet is that VAs understaffed, underresourced team will again outperform in this pandemic because its baked into majority of their DNA to run toward the fire.

[snowcanyon]

1. Whether we like it or not, it's a capitalist system. Feel free to go where you want. Administration and the government does not care.
2. What does everyone consider appropriate PPE?
3. What happens to our careers if we walk off the job when safety gear is unavailable? It seems like a bona fide reason to quit, but the official CDC recs keep loosening, so it's going to be hard and harder to argue since a scarf is now considered PPE.

HikingDO what do you consider OK PPE, and what will you do when it runs out? What kind of clause is in your contract?

[The White Coat Investor]

If you're too scared to work in a pandemic, just quit your job and stay home. No sense in going anywhere else. If it isn't there yet, it will be soon. As goes NYC, so goes Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, and Kotzebue. It's just a matter of time. Hopefully that delay will allow for more equipment to be made, more treatments to become available, and perhaps even a vaccine to be developed.