workforce trends

The 10 medical specialties that were most in demand in 2019

Family and internal medicine were the top two most in-demand specialties, according to Doximity.

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Family and internal medicine were the top two most in-demand medical specialties in 2019, according to a new physician employment report from Doximity.

With job opportunities for doctors increasing by 5% nationally from 2018, these two specialties led the way, followed by emergency medicine, psychiatry and OB-GYN.

Doximity compiled this data after examining jobs posted on its network in 2018 and 2019. During that time, 27,000 jobs were posted on the site.

A complete list of the top 10 is below:

Top 10 most in-demand medical specialties in 2019
Rank Specialty
1 Family medicine
2 Internal medicine
3 Emergency medicine
4 Psychiatry
5 OB-GYN
6 Neurology
7 Radiology
8 Anesthesiology
9 Pediatrics
10 Cardiology

Read the full report here.

Related reading:

The top 10 highest paying medical specialties in 2019

Physician is No. 7 on the U.S. News & World Report Best Jobs 2020 list

2 comments

  1. Frustrated Student

    How do you encourage future physicians to pursue primary care fields when their scope of practice isn’t defended at a National level during a time where other healthcare practitioners are advocating for autonomy (that basically removes the physician out of the equation) in said fields?

    1. Raine Richards, AOA Director of Public Policy

      Scope of practice is one of the AOA public policy team’s top priorities. Our State Advocacy Initiatives page includes recent examples of some of the comment letters that we have submitted on this issue recently. In addition to letters, we also rolled out a new grassroots advocacy platform last year and partnered with several state affiliates to encourage DO and student/resident members to contact their legislators to voice their opinions on scope expansion legislation.

      Unfortunately, scope is no longer just a state issue, and we recently submitted a letter in response to CMS’ Patients over Paperwork solicitation for feedback on scope of practice.

      The AOA is a founding member of the Scope of Practice Partnership, which began in 2006, and every year we provide funding for grants to help state and specialty medical societies fight inappropriate scope expansion attempts across the country.

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