Emergency Physicians’ Experience-Remuneration (E-R) Mismatch: A Canadian Healthcare Irony

Conventional wisdom suggests that in almost every profession, the most experienced and educated employees are remunerated at a higher rate than the less experienced ones. For example, new-graduate hires most commonly start at the bottom of the pay scale. No profession could reflect the importance of experience and the need for mastery of skills more than emergency medicine (EM), where a split-second decision could mean the difference between life and death. In Canada, however, EM physicians are remunerated as per a common pay scale that does not consider the length of their education, training, or years of practice. Such an unfair experience-remuneration mismatch (E-R mismatch) could lead to job dissatisfaction, burnout, and switching to other specialties. Given the current EM physician shortage in Canada, the E-R mismatch among such physicians could negatively impact patient care and the health system as a whole and prolong the already long wait times. The aim of this editorial is to shed light on this flaw in the Canadian healthcare system and lead to change toward a fair pay system. The creation of a professional and experience-based hierarchy among Canadian EM physicians should be considered a matter of urgency for those developing health-related legislation.