A switch from medicine to accounting
[This is a guest post]
Hi,
I graduated from medical school but did a complete 180 degree change and decided to pursue accounting instead. I have an undergraduate business degree and in college I liked accounting. I’m still searching for that 1st accounting job. I’ve been working on this career switch for a year. I was very unhappy before and knew I had to make a change. I know in the long run I’ll be happy with my decision, but right now the road is a bit rough. I’m looking around for people like me. People with medical backgrounds who are now pursuing something totally different. Thank you for your website!
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Philippa’s question for the readers:
How many of you have made a move into a very different area from medicine? What has that move been like for you?
I moved from family medicine via medical administration and the Internet start-up world to that of business coaching, and every move has made me happier and happier. It’s as if I have been sculpting my career, and each move has sliced away the parts that I haven’t liked and replaced them with work that brings me increasing joy.
Please feel free to add your stories (either as a comment to this post or as a fresh submission) - we’d love to be inspired by you all!
“For my son”
[This is a guest post]
I have been out of medicine for nearly 2 years. Had my daughter in 2010, was VERY part time. My non-MD hubby suggested I stay home, enjoy her after working so hard for some many years. Then, I had my son in 2011, and he has HLHS. Am not working in order to care for him and enjoy him as his condition requires numerous palliative surgeries. Not sure when I’ll be back, but I do miss it.
“A bitter pill to swallow?”
[This is a guest post]
My story is so similar to others here. I left my job, that I loved, as a pediatrician 10 years ago. I had worked hard to be the superhero employee and mom (and she cooks a great lassagna) and held up great for years. Eventually, with two kids in school and an unbelievably busy job, I was exhausted. My husband (now ex) was a very busy research doctor who traveled constantly.
Long story short, I’m now 56, divorced and need a job. My youngest child just turned 18. Getting back into medicine is prohibitively expensive and the route is unclear. My biggest problem is how demoralized I am. I once had it all.
It is so good to read the stories here. Thank you for this blog.
Carol Kennon
Albuquerque, NM
My Story of Leaving Medicine 10 years ago
[This is a guest post]
“Well, this may be more that any of you want to know.
I am a 52 year gastroenterologist, married to a gastroenterologist, who chose to be a full time mom 10 years ago when my daughter was 10 and my son 8 years old. My son was accepting of our chaotic life, but our daughter was not. She was miserable and had grown up never knowing when we’d be home, who would feed her dinner or take her to swimming or piano lessons or worse—who would tuck her in to bed.
I began to imagine that if something happened to us, our children would have only known us like this—would have only known this life. I tried getting rid of the nanny and cutting back but trying to pick up your second and fourth grader on time when your cases are delayed, or referring physicians are angry because this patient only wanted a woman and you are leaving at 3 pm —well it became unbearable. Additionally, my practice changed. All the emergent straightforward cases with fun procedures went to my partners because they were available and I began to have only chronic difficult cases that would wait months to see me. Everyday I brought work home to finish after the kids went to bed.
My husband and I spent a month getting up at 4:30 am with a pot of coffee trying to figure out the best solution.
Move? Join a bigger group with less call in a larger city? Go back to a clinic position in academics? We loved where we lived, the practice we had started was growing and very successful—what to do?
We felt we had to get our family in line, before our daughter got any older. My husband is and was very supportive but when I suggested job sharing, he made it clear that he’d had 10 years of weekends home alone with the kids when I was on call and he was NOT spending any more time at home. He used to say when I was on call ” Hey —that’s my patient anyway— I’ll just go in”……
So, I quit at 42 years old. It was a shock, but the kids were appreciative and happy. Our life changed dramatically.
Our daughter changed , our marriage got better, we began to live and it was the right decision for us.
I kept my privileges and malpractice for two years, but we knew within three months this was right and I would stay home until they left for college.
But that doesn’t mean you don’t feel remorse. There are feelings of isolation from what you know and what you’ve earned. People are bombarding you with their judgements of wasting space in medical school or wasting knowledge. I simply said, “Well patients can find another doctor, my kids can’t find another mother.”
Our kids, at 18 and 20, still tell me they are glad I stayed home with them.
This, of course, raises all kinds of future conflict for them. They both want to have 3 or 4 children and be a huge part of their children’s lives. Our daughter is in college in pre-med and her brother wants to do research. She (actually both of them) could probably teach a course on women’s issues and decision making with all the time we’ve spent on this topic. In a nutshell, we talk about being realistic with the field you pick, the contract you sign, the city you live in and its resources, the spouse you marry and their work and children expectations, maybe not living where you want, but to be near extended family (that you get along with),and not over extending yourself like both my husband and I did.
Our daughter hated every nanny we had—- so this will be interesting, unless, her husband stays home :-)
As for me, it will be 20 years since my GI boards and I am letting them lapse. I have thought about multiple medical and nonmedical career options. Re-entry programs are becoming more and more popular.
But it’s hard—I’ve grown accustomed to being home and having 10 teenagers just show up.
I love having one of our kids call me on a whim and want to meet for lunch. I have three golden retrievers that I walk every day—and it is soulful.
My husband loves having me home, taking care of everything in our lives and it’s calm and organized. We’ve lived the other. He cringes at the thought of it just being the two of us and having to deal with a second work schedule again.
I look back and see options that we could have tried, but that too can go on forever.
So it’s about trying to make it work as much as you can and then deciding what you need out of your own life.”
“IMG in NV trying to fit in USA life style”
[This is a guest post]
“Hi :
I am a 42 year old Radiologist (since 1998) who 5 years ago immigrated from South America to USA (my husband was transferred), mom of a beautiful and smart 11 years old girl. I had obligatory quit my job as a MD for obvious reasons. Actually dealing with so much stress because I decided to take my USMLE Tests to get my license here, but after 20 years I earned my bachelor degree (1990) it is kind of steep for me…even though I keep working hard everyday .Sometimes a huge question attack my thoughts …because, I am considered an old IMG (international medical graduate - PK addition), what else can I do if I can’t get into a residency? I can’t find any clear answer to this specific question, could you help me to find out if there is any light after this tunnel?. I really do appreciate it.
Thanks”
“My children come first”
[This is a guest post]
I really hope this website takes off. I left medicine about two and half years ago after having my fourth child. My children are now involved in many activities which I believe they wouldn’t be able to do if I still worked. ( there is no way I would be able to get them to 5:30 practices) Watching my kids play their sports is my biggest joy. Might sound lame but it is way more important to me than my career was. My employer wasn’t willing to accommodate my need to be more available to my children so I didn’t return after my maternity leave. I do think about going back but quite honestly I just don’t want to do it anymore.
I am looking forward to more insight from this site. I hope it is a success.
“There are no coincidences!”
[This is a Guest Post]
“thank you ….the universe is always guiding me…and i will be very honest:
i have been out of an IM residency only six years. throughout medical school and residency i felt uncertain/not confident in my knowledge base of medicine, but i chose im by default…nothing else jumped out at me. outpatient clinic during residency was a huge disappointment (seeing pts every 10-15 minutes was not what i signed up for)….so i postponed actually practicing for about 4 yrs, and then i only got into it as nutritional/lifestyle change coach. nonetheless, i started practicing in an inner-city medicaid clinic, but after a year and a half….I’M DONE. I’M DONE, DONE, DONE!! i loved touching my pts…i loved talking to them and teaching/counseling….but i don’t care about m11q’s, disability forms, and potassium levels…..and i especially hate that these things took me away from my husband and my two babies. i was just another worker-bee, clearly fighting the hustle everyone else had down pat. but even though my heart left medicine 6 yrs ago…i feel scared to leave…..what the heck am i going to do? how am i going to help people now? if medicine was the noblest of professions, am i done for? this is all i have known since the 10th grade…..
i will end the ramble now…thank you for your patience….warmly, -yc”
