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When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023
| Contributor Information
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When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
Many physicians are seriously considering their practical options for a career that has nothing to do with clinical work. Perhaps they feel unable to care for patients the way they want to in the current US healthcare system. Perhaps they feel burned out or simply want to work fewer hours. But around 1 in 4 of them is pondering a career change.
In this report, gender is based on how physicians self-identified in our survey.
Some totals in this presentation do not equal 100% because of rounding.
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
In Medscape's 2021 report, 22% of respondents were thinking of pursuing a nonclinical career. Another recent survey saw similar results, with a Massachusetts Medical Society poll finding that 1 in 4 respondents planned to leave medicine within 2 years.
Thoughts of shifting careers come at a time of growing discontent in the profession. According to a recent AMA report, a score for physicians' professional fulfillment dropped by nearly half between 2020 and 2021.
"Medicine offers no joy," complained one Medscape survey respondent. "It's almost impossible to feel good about being a doctor."
"I have absolutely no passion for medicine," lamented an Alabama physician. "I went into medicine expecting something completely different than what it is."
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
"Female physicians are especially inclined to want a better lifestyle and more flexible schedule," says Chelsea Turgeon, MD, a former ob/gyn who founded a career transformation coaching practice, Coach Chels MD, in 2020. "Usually, that's because they're responsible for a huge proportion of the childcare, even if they have a similar or more demanding role than their spouse."
That was the case for one female respondent in Ohio.
"When my kids get a little older, it would be nice to have the freedom to spend more time with them," she said. "With school and extracurricular activities, it can be difficult getting to places on time."
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
Factors behind the rate at which older physicians considered leaving medicine could include impending retirement or job burnout — or both.
Those older than age 50 were more likely to consider leaving for a nonclinical career than in our 2021 report. It was the opposite for physicians aged 30-49, who were less likely.
"I've been in private practice for 28 years," a 60-year-old respondent told Medscape. "I feel I have achieved all I wanted from traditional medicine. Time to put other talents to work."
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
Although physicians were less likely to cite burnout as their main reason (29% overall) compared with our 2021 report (41% overall), they more often said they simply want to work fewer hours.
"They're spending more time completing administrative tasks, documenting inside the EMR, and rushing from one room to the next instead of being able to spend quality time helping humans, which is why they got into healthcare in the first place," Turgeon says. "It's a high-stress job that doesn't feel worth it."
Many doctors also yearn for a more balanced lifestyle and more flexible schedule, she says, and the pandemic highlighted this disconnect. "Many physicians are recognizing that remote work and hybrid models have become more industry standard across other professions."
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
Physicians were at least somewhat more likely in our 2021 report to consider education or teaching (48%), a hospital executive position (19%), healthcare business (40%), law (9%), writing (31%), or a technology career (32%)
Most of Turgeon's clients are looking to enter a field that offers more creativity, freedom, and fulfillment than clinical practice does. Some gravitate to online roles in healthcare technology, medical education, and medical writing.
Still others "are interested in work that's focused holistically on health and healing," including health or life coaching and healing modalities such as somatic therapy and trauma therapy.
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
Survey respondents were less likely than in our 2021 report to anticipate a new, nonclinical career within 12 months (18% vs 34%). They were more likely to say they might never transition to a nonclinical role (27% vs 4%)
"Physicians in general are a very risk-averse population with a high pain tolerance," Turgeon says. "They generally won't take the leap unless the pain of staying is significantly higher than the anticipated pain or fear of leaving."
But the pandemic was a tipping point for many doctors to explore nontraditional paths, she says. "Now that things are more stable, there is less of an immediate urge to make a change."
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
One respondent explained the value of gathering information about a possible new career at one's current physician job.
"I developed relationships with national surgery center leads, attorneys that I have worked with over 20 years, and medical device leads that can help me when I want to reduce or give up my direct patient care activities," said the 55-year-old physician in the West.
"It's very helpful to develop skills and make connections that will be fruitful over a period of years instead of simply giving up practice and then jumping into nonclinical pursuits."
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
Obviously, attending medical school in the United States is tremendously expensive and requires most prospective physicians to borrow vast sums. The idea of turning away from such a big investment can strike a doctor as ludicrous.
Average medical school debt in the United States is $202,453, and the average medical school graduate owes $250,995 in total debt. A 2019 meta-analysis found that high educational debt correlated with both high levels of financial stress and greater pursuit of higher-paying specialties.
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
Since our 2021 report, physicians have become less likely to feel very confident or confident that transitioning to a nonclinical career would bring positive change (35% currently vs 47% in the earlier report).
"I want to balance the need to make an income with the ability to focus on something I feel more passionate about," said one physician. "I'm still debating with myself about what that might be."
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
Female physicians were less likely to feel very confident or confident (30%) about the gratifications of a new career outside of clinical work than they were in our 2021 report (53%). Such feelings coincided with nearly 40% of female physicians going part-time or leaving medicine altogether within 6 years of completing their residencies. The primary reason: family responsibilities.
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
Generally, doctors aged 40 or older were less likely than in our 2021 report to feel very confident or confident that a new, nonclinical career would prove rewarding.
Turgeon attributes the lack of confidence among her clients in their late 40s or older to having fewer years before retirement and a greater sense of urgency and pressure to "get it right."
"They were raised in a generation in which it was common to have one career until retirement," she says. "The idea of pivoting careers feels more foreign to them in general."
Her millennial clients (those between 27 and 42 years old) "tend to be more in touch with their emotions, interests, and passions," which gives them clarity. "They take quick, decisive action and trust themselves to figure it out along the way."
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
When Practicing Medicine Becomes Unrewarding: Medscape Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | November 7, 2023 | Contributor Information
Is Your Risk of Being Sued Climbing? Medscape Physicians and Malpractice Report 2023
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