Elective spine only jobs

[Guest5678493]

Anyone have thoughts on these elective spine only jobs? Often tied in with like an ortho or combined ortho/neuro spine group. Especially as a first job out (if really all you want to do is elective spine).

It could be a great fit for me but I’m worried if 1) it will impact board certification cases (will they actually board you in neurosurgery if you didn’t do a single crani for the oral boards) and 2) if you pinch yourself down to that alone for the first couple years would that limit me to those types of jobs and not general neurosurgery community jobs in the future should I need to relocate or something?

[Guest]

You’ll get boarded, but you’ll also be screwed in terms of getting patient volume and a good payor mix if you don’t have anything to differentiate yourself except for “first available appointment.” And you’re right to be worried about what you’ll be able to do in the future, since hospitals will only credential you to do certain procedures if you’ve had a decent volume in a time period before your application. That being said, it’s not like the spine-only guys are hurting generally, so up to you on your risk tolerance of spine getting a pay cut in the coming years.