No 27 - In 2022: Where is the best place in the world to be a doctor?

I was cycling to work in the wind and the rain and day dreaming of a better life. I thought, there has to be somewhere in the world more pleasant to live than this?

My goal in writing this short article is to ask for clinicians opinions on where in the world they think is the best place to be a doctor.

To start, a few caveats, I love the UK and I am going to practice in the UK but its just nice to have a day dream. Like many other young doctors, I still have that primary dream of leading an exciting life. I want to use my skills for good. I want to help in a humanitarian disaster, or save lives in a war zone, work for HEMS, do PHEC, be part of the trauma team at the Baltimore major trauma centre, complete a sabbatical in a South African Township etc etc.

As young doctors, most of us dream of doing life saving medicine in austere environments. Then we get older, more tired, more grey, more experienced and look for a slightly easier life. We get a decent day job and then for some excitement we sign up to be an “Adventure Medic” or “Wilderness Medic/ Exped Medic” so that we can have a free holiday and feel useful again. Then we realise that sleeping on the ground is really uncomfortable with sciatica and look for something more cushty.

My question is this, on purely selfish grounds, where in the world is the best work-life balance for doctors?

I want you to put away those noble thoughts about helping the most in need, or working for free in a poor area or just keeping the NHS running. If you just wanted to work somewhere with the best work-life balance where would it be?

Firstly, being doctors, the work comes first. So, you want a place with a decent level of healthcare, (?) universal access, good facilities, good colleagues, not too much red tape and not too many hours. Also, a place where you can take your annual leave without a fight or feel that you have to work when you have D+V because there is no one to cover you.

Then, the lifestyle. You want to live somewhere safe, with a nice house, great food, lots of leisure activities, nice scenery, good schools and stuff to do when you are not at work. Maybe cocktails on the beach with the sunset, whatever..

So, I am going to propose some places in a very biased and Anglo-centric way and that I’d love to hear your thoughts and then maybe build a “Top 20” locations as voted by doctors in 2022!

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Bad work/life balance (worst at the top):

1.      Ukraine

2.      Russia

3.      Most of Africa (Interesting medicine but stressful, decent standard of living for you but bit wealth gap and currently not that comparable to the West in most places)

4.      Central Asia

5.      The Middle East-ish with some exceptions

6.      China

7.      The south Pole

8.      Bits of southern America

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Middle ranking areas (best at the top):

1.      Canada – Better paid than the UK and ? less stressful work.

2.      Most of Western Europe

3.      USA – Stressful work, but better paid than the UK and therefore probably slightly better.

4.      UK

5.      ? Japan/ most of the Far east – I do not have any knowledge with which to judge – sorry.

6.      South Africa

7.      ? India/ Pakistan/ Burma – Again, I don’t really know enough to judge but probably not in the bottom tier of place.

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Top ranking work-life balance places for doctors (best at the top):

1.      The Caribbean and Bermuda – Great lifestyle, climate and ? Western standard healthcare – I really don’t know so please correct me.

2.      Switzerland – best healthcare system in the world, best life outcomes, decent pay, high standard of living but probably a bit dull and you need to learn foreign languages

3.      Singapore

4.      Scandinavia – see Switzerland

5.      Taiwan

6.      Hong Kong

7.      UAE / Qatar – Great Pay, expat lifestyle if you can ignore the local disparities and major hospitals with western standard healthcare

8.      Australia

9.      New Zealand

10.   Italy – Great climate, food, etc, no idea what being a doctor there is like but I hope its nice.

11.   Seychelles and other distant tropical paradise islands – Great place to live.

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What do you think? Is this list roughly right?

If you want to help make this list better, then please leave a comment below with your top choice/s and a reason why or a link to a good explanation/article. I look forward to seeing your thoughts.