How to remain in medicine
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The balance has changed since we started in 1990 when the options for changing career if one needed to for any reason - were only just emerging.
Nowadays the challenge is not so much how to leave but how to stay in the career you have worked hard to achieve or how to branch out without wasting what has gone before. Most medics just want to be medics. They would not have put themselves through the gruelling study and training if they were not passionate about or dedicated to their careers and aware of how privileged they are to be working with people to assist their health. At Medical Forum we find that the "presenting" request varies....
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oThat last question is an interesting one. We have many cases where "how do I leave medicine?" has been the "presenting complaint" . However, after completing our Review the outcome is that a clinical role is retained - possibly mixed with some other role. The most surprising thing to our clients is that they often start ENJOYING clinical practice again.
A shift from "help I can't take being a clinician any more" to "I like my clinical role now more than I ever did" is not such a surprise to us. When someone who is at the end of their tether with their job begins to schedule protected time for career planning and gains new perspective on the inexorable treadmill that seems to lie ahead - something shifts. They no longer feel trapped nor on a plateau ( or sinking!). Over a period of 3-6 months a reinvigoration or rebirth of the career takes place. Work feels more contained and containable and...... even relaxing!! New goals emerge too. |
This is not to say that some clinicians should not change direction completely - there is a place for that. But most medics dread letting go of what they have achieved and worked so hard for. Not surprisingly.
There is a trend for doctors to want to work part time. However there is a risk that part time in fact spreads over the boundaries and ends up with being paid less for doing more so we remain alert to that. Our blog covers things like changes in medical careers and why it is happening. So - if you find yourself identifying with any of this page and you feel scared at the thought of "leaving" we would say emphatically that..... career planning Medical Forum style is NOT about "leaving" anything.
It is about taking stock, seeking support, following a well trodden system of career analysis and allocating time and energy to career exploration. All in all a far more measured, steady, planned and organic way of steering a career with NO knee jerk decisions and no leaping.
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