Choosing a Specialty: following your dreams, or the jobs?

Abstract

“ There are no jobs in orthopedic surgery, or any specialty for that matter. It’s safest to become a generalist.”

As medical students, we hear statements akin to this one often, not only from our senior students and instructing physicians, but also from friends and family who want to help us make the best career choice with our preciously purchased CaRMs tokens. But is any of it true?  Shouldn’t we just follow our passions, and rest assured that everything else will fall into place? The trends in employment and unemployment are important for medical students, residents, families, and communities to be aware of not only in personal career planning, but as we move forward and seek to meet the future demands on our medical system.