Being a Doctor in Canada Vs UK | Pay, Lifestyle, Jobs

today we're going to talk about being a doctor in the uk versus being a doctor in canada my experiences and which one i prefer [Music] welcome back guys let's jump straight in my name is dr jude i'm a trauma and orthopedic surgeon i went to medical school in the uk and then i completed 10 years of training in london to become a specialist in orthopedic surgery and when i finished all of that i decided i wanted to travel so i went to canada and i had an amazing time i honestly couldn't believe how much fun i had and so in this video i want to talk to you about my experiences working in the two countries because they are very similar but also very different and i frequently get messages on instagram and youtube people asking me that i'm an international medical graduate i'm thinking about going to the uk canada or the us i'm not sure what do you think so hopefully this video will help you decide which country you'd like to travel to stay and emigrate visit whatever because i'm fortunate to have worked in canada the us and the uk so here's my two pence and if you find this video useful please smash that like button and and subscribe because we're going to keep it rolling every week on this channel when it comes to length of training i think the canadians probably have it about right in the uk medical school is five years and it's usually an undergraduate but some people do it postgraduate which is three years so that could be about eight years of university and then you then go into a training program essentially that takes ten years of study and training and grit and determination before you become a qualified specialist and then you complete one or two years of fellowship so that's 12 years of training after medical school on average in the uk whereas in canada they medical school is a postgraduate degree so you do usually do an undergraduate which is i think three or four years and then your postgraduate which is medical school which is four years and then you go straight into your program for medical school and in orthopedic surgery it's five years so you can finish medical school and then be fully trained to be a specialist in five years plus one or two years of fellowship so after medical school in the uk you're looking at 10 to 12 years and in canada after medical school you're looking at five to seven years that's a huge difference so some people what they do actually is they do an undergraduate medical degree in the uk and then finish medical school and then go to canada or the us and then do a short residency and then you'll be finished a lot sooner than had you stayed in the uk but the caveat to that is i would say that you're training to become a specialist is not a race you really want to be well trained you want to finish and be adequate and skillful but that being said the canadians still are producing fantastic surgeons some of the best surgeons in the world have come out of canada but i think that the learning curve after you finish your training when you come out of a canadian residency is far steeper than when you've come out of a uk residency but the fact remains you will never learn properly until you are independent on your own making decisions so actually i think that 10 to 12 years is actually a little bit too long because i think the uk is too long and i think canada is probably too short it should be somewhere in the middle that would be optimum but that's just my opinion hey in terms of working hours now i did a trauma fellowship in downtown toronto and the nature of trauma is it happens any time of the day getting cool into the hospital in the middle of the night to do an operation lord in the uk we only do life or limb saving surgery at night and then all other procedures are scheduled for daylight hours with a fresh set of hands and a fresh set of eyes which in canada the culture is still very much get things done whenever you can so we still did a lot of operating at night more than we did in the uk i got the feeling that that was slowly starting to change but because of that actually fellows and residents did work long hours in the uk i would say the average hours you will work during training is between 48 and 70 hours per week in canada it was more like 60 to 90 hours per week obviously their training is shorter so they have to make up for it somehow but it depends which works for you personally i think if you want to get the right work-life balance i give the working hours to the uk because we work pretty hard but we work in enough hours that we still have time to rest and do other things study write produce youtube videos whatever else it is you have more time for hobbies and other interests while you're training in the uk so i wanted to talk a little bit about the culture but that is very difficult because it is very similar yet it is also very different in the uk as a doctor you will work as part of the nhs which means no decision that you make clinically should be based on financial remuneration ie you don't get paid for recommending one treatment over another and everything you do should be solely evidence based and it's the same in canada but with the caveat that they bill for every patient interaction so if you perform a certain surgery there's a code you get paid a different amount depending on what procedure or you do now doctors obviously have to swear code of ethics and so that shouldn't that shouldn't interplay with your decision making but it's inevitable we've shown it across the world where money and medicine meet there's often a dark side and i'm not saying that it is or isn't a dark side in canada but i just can't help but feel that when money is involved it can slightly alter the treatment that doctors deliver and then the other thing i would say is that the residents have it pretty tough in canada compared to the uk but equally i mean that's difficult i i don't know my impression is that i don't know listen training in the uk and canada is not easy either way in in the uk we have lots of exams the exam standard is very high my impression is that the frcs in the uk standard was a lot higher because we've got patients really challenging vibers you study for about a year and the quality of the exam going trainees in the uk in my experience seem to be a lot higher more knowledgeable more clinically sound than a resident in canada but again that's just my opinion but in terms of training i felt like the residents in canada had it tough they had to be up early stay late they had high expectations from the bosses they had to know everything to know about every patient and i think that maybe residency in canada is slightly more demanding than in the uk with regards to job prospects it really depends if you train in canada and you are canadian then the world is your oyster because the canadian system still actually prioritize canadians so actually there are a number of training positions that are not you're not eligible to apply for if you're not canadian and so they have a certain number of positions available for international medical graduates every year but it's a very small number and it's very competitive so getting into a training program is difficult whereas in the uk getting onto a training program for an international medical graduate is the same as whether you're a uk graduate everybody is on an equal playing field so if you've completed your training in whatever country and you've qualified as a specialist in the uk getting a job should be fairly straightforward but actually it isn't because like many other professions a lot of it depends on who you know where you've worked what you know what have you done what do you have to offer and so actually if you're positioning yourself to work in a big city like london and it really does help having trained here or know somebody here or have done you know something connected to the uk being an international graduate trained overseas and then trying to get a consultant gig in the uk can be challenging and equally the same in canada and i would say even more difficult in canada even more difficult because as i said they too tend to prioritize canadian graduates and canadian nationals and so if you're thinking about going to canada you almost certainly have to at least train to a certain level then go to canada and do at least one or two fellowships meet people do some research network and then see what your options are at that stage that being said i did meet a handful of uk trained surgeons who are working permanently in canada living their best life they've moved over with their family and they are absolutely flying so it is an option okay pay this again is a difficult one because we don't know the exact numbers of how much doctors earn and also in canada it significantly varies depending on your specialty whereas in the uk working in nhs is standardized every doctor is paid the same regardless of whether you're a pediatrician plastic surgeon orthopedic said and you can look it up i made a video called how much do consultant doctors earn i also made a video called how much do junior doctors earn which is how much you will earn when you're training now in training junior doctors will earn between 30 to 65 to 70 000 pounds per year and i have to calculate what that is in canadian dollars and in canada the trainees or residents will earn between i believe thousand canadian dollars which isn't a great deal but remember they are only training for five years and when you finish training it's very different in the uk you can check out my video but the starting salary for a consultant doctor is about 79 000 pounds in canada it really does vary because it depends what your specialty is where you work um what group you join that kind of thing but i would expect a canadian surgeon to start on two to three times what you would earn in the uk and obviously with more years done that difference becomes even more significant so if pay is the biggest and most important thing to you i think that hands down canadian doctors they live extremely well they live in lovely homes i went to visit a few of my friends gorgeous pads nice cars kids in great schools really lovely neighborhoods the quality of life as a doctor in canada is great and not to say it isn't great in the uk because what i talked about was your nhs pay now you can supplement that with private practice medical legal work education so there are other things that doctors will do to try and supplement their income and so you can expect to probably go over 100 to 150 000 pounds total depending on what other things you are doing but it is a hustle and even in canada it is a hustle it is really hard there is no shortcut to earning good money as a doctor and i just i think money is a slight taboo which is why i have a whole series dedicated to all things to do with money on my channel so check those videos out but i don't think there's anything wrong with trying to maximize your earning potential and if that is the case the uk is perhaps not the best place to do that you could do that in canada or the us might have two cents or even australia i briefly touched on this before and that is lifestyle it's difficult i mean being a doctor or a surgeon no matter where you are as long as you're working you will not be poor you'll be well paid you won't be rich unless you're working in the u.s but you know in the uk doctors and surgeons have a reasonable life it depends where you work i live in london cost of living is ridiculously high so you're definitely not bowling in london but you'll be comfortable the biggest expense i see most surgeons struggling with is private school fees if you have children and you want to educate your children in private school it's hefty so that actually drives a lot of surgeons to take on other things such as private practice and and etc so if you are paying private school fees then your lifestyle will be hectic i would say the caveat is in canada because they earn well most surgeons are sending their kids to private schools and they don't seem as pinched or as stressed about it but as i said that's what my very superficial knowledge and experience so if you have kids or you're planning on having a family then where you choose to live will be a significant factor in the lifestyle and quality of life that you have obviously if you live in london and you want to send your kids to private school it's going to be hard but that being said a lot of surgeons and doctors still do it so this video was harder than i thought honestly because the two countries are so amazing in what they offer you and there are pros and cons to each one and one of the things i did leave out and it seems quite funny or weird to say and that is i love the fact that we dress up really nicely in the uk in canada people tend to spend a lot of time in scrubs so they would usually just come in very casual clothes and then put their scrubs on which was cool for a moment whereas i think in the uk we dress slightly more formally which i really enjoy i like wearing nice suits a brogues a jacket a nice bag and then meeting up with your friends after work going out for drinks dinners i just love the vibrance being dressed up and ready to go at all times where it was slightly more casual and dressed down in canada but then equally i love the fact that in canada they still have this old school respect for doctors everybody's called doctor there's still this old school pride and and respect for you being somebody who saves lives because in the uk because it's a public service one of the things that many doctors will complain about is that they feel undervalued and it is not uncommon for us to be dragged through the mud regularly in the newspapers and in the news so it can be psychologically challenging to be a doctor which i think is a very selfless job in this country but then to really not be valued and so a lot of doctors are struggling with that in the uk so it was quite refreshing to be in canada where it is the opposite anyway which one would i prefer it's hard because i spent most of my career in london i'm gonna call it a tie honestly i i couldn't pick i really couldn't pick i loved my colleagues in the uk i had grant i had a fantastic time training but then equally i love the kind of more relaxed casual culture in canada i love the fact that you can have a great quality of life big home private schools for your kids great neighborhood and be quite autonomous in the way you want your service as a physician so i don't know i'm going to call it a tie i hope you liked the video i know it was a bit more run and gun bit more casual than the previous videos but i just wanted to talk to you because a lot of people keep asking me those questions if you made it to the end thank you please subscribe and i will see you in the next one [Music] you

Channel: DR JUDE

Views: 357,827

Keywords: how to become a doctor in canada, how to become a doctor in UK, Canada, UK, doctor vlog, medical vlogs, Canada Vs UK, international medical graduates, being a doctor in canada vs UK, how much do doctors earn, doctor, premed, how much do doctors make, how to get into medical school, surgeon, how to become a surgeon, doctors salary, doctors in canada, surgery, medicine, day in the life, residency life, life as a resident surgeon, becoming a surgeon, how to become a doctor

Id: 6YeyHegpt0g

Length: 17min 14sec (1034 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 23 2021