Hospitals can offer employment security in the form a regular salary, however most doctors in Australia work in private practices where they charge patients a fee for services provided.
Working in a hospital usually means you will be paid for all the hours you put in, including overtime whereas working in a medical practice can mean occasionally doing unpaid work such as chasing up patients. You’d likely also be involved with various administrative aspects of the business including IT, equipment, finance and administration.
For those who like to be in control and have some input into policies and procedures, as well as more mundane things like furniture, it can be frustrating to not be part of decision-making panels or wait for new processes to be implemented when working in a hospital. Working in a practice often allows for business and administration decisions to be made more quickly.
A medical practitioner employed in a salaried position in a hospital may be restricted in the areas in which they can work as they usually have been employed to fill a specific role. Working in a medical practice can mean more choice over the type of patients you see and potentially additional financial incentives for seeing patients from a certain demographic or with particular health conditions. Another advantage of is the ability to establish relationships with clients to better facilitate quality care through ongoing management.
This can also mean you get to choose the people you work with and can become familiar with their work style. This can be both a positive or negative as you are with the same people each day but most practitioners say it is better than working in a hospital which often involves working shifts with many different individuals, and occasionally having to work in intense situations with someone they have never met before.
Ultimately, whether you choose to work in a practice or hospital will depend on your individual choices around work / life balance and income.