Leaving dermatology residency and need new options
[this is a guest post]
I have one year of dermatology residency, however, I took a one year leave of absence due to my daughter’s medical condition. I don’t think I will be able to return in July as she requires a lot of my resources. I may have to leave residency altogether and re-apply at a later date realizing the match gets harder each year. I’m wondering if there is any work I can do on a per diem basis in order to help my husband pay the bills? We can’t afford to stay in our current apartment on one income. I’m thinking maybe along the lines of a medical spa but I have no idea of what position I would be qualified for without having to go to esthetics school. Just curious about positions out there that look favorable on “some” MD experience. I have almost $300K in school loans so this is a really hard decision but my daughter needs me and I have no family support.
Confused and need help!
[This is a guest post]
I am in my last year of residency and just delivered I am so busy with the lo and developed postpartum depression I was given extra time off but I am thinking of quitting as I am happier being with my child than at work. My psychiatrist recommend if I can take few yrs off and return later to finish my third year of residency is that possible?!?! I do want to practice medicine but now I want to spend time with my child, I started anti-dep meds but not helping me with my separation anxiety!!
Perspective from your Northern neighbour!
[This is a guest post]
Good day all the lovely ladies!
I came across this blog about 2 years ago when I seriously contemplated leaving my residency. It was tremendously helpful to me that I wasn’t the only one.
Let me back it up. I am a Chinese Canadian who pretty much grew up in Canada and thinks like a Canadian with really traditional Asian parents. I partied way too much in my first year university and lost my FULL scholarship which included my food and housing. My mom won’t let it go, so to spite her I worked so very hard and got into medical school. Now in my 11th year of undergrad + post grad education I am finally realizing the joke was on me.
Last year about 6 months into my residency in family medicine (it’s only 2 years in Canada), I just couldn’t do it. I cried everyday going to work. I loved Saturdays and hated Mondays. I was scared of all the chest pains and SOB when I was on call. Finally I freaked out one day and called my program director. I was crying so hard she couldn’t make out my name. That’s when I took 3 months off. The first 2 months I got started to Celexa, counselling, basically the kiddie glove treatment. I was convinced that this wasn’t for me and instead I ran off to Honduras out of the blue to become a scuba diving instructor. I had always loved traveling and during medical school I did electives in Kingston, Jamaica, Haiti after the quake (crazy times), and Shanghai. Honduras was sketchy safety wise and tons of cheap drugs which I indulged in a few. I realized 2 weeks into my trip that perspective and a break was what I needed. The perspective I gained from the Honduras experience was that medicine is effing hard, but you pay your dues and it gets way better. Plust I only had 1.5 years to go, so I gritted my teeth and went back. Now I only have 7 months left. I am loving what I get to do. I have my bad days and weeks, but overall the celexa helped and the break absolutely gave the energy I needed to keep on going.
I keep on hearing about the USA and how much debt you all have, and how that’s taking away your choices etc. I just want to explain the Canadian system from an insider perspective.
1) medical school: my tuition in 2007 -2011, total of four years was 40,000$ CAD. Plus living expenses/books etc, comes out to 90,000$CAD. In Canada student loans are different. I didn’t have to pay interest until residency and they even forgave 25% of it. Now my debt is about 50,000$. My parents have helped a lil and residency also pays about 58,000$ per year. So When I graduate the debt is really no big deal.
2) Medical system: we are a free public healthcare. It’s true there are wait lines for surgeries and MRI scans. But I don’t really deal with insurance companies at all. I spend about 1 min per patient on billing, 2 min if it’s really complicated. Pts never pay me directly, i bill the government. All of the physician earnings are public and are published online x 10 years. My preceptor who is the greatest family doctor in the area works about 50 hr weeks, with a big call group, does deliveries and sees pts in hospital. He has about 1000 pts in the community and billed 370,000$ CAD last year. Mind you that’s before expenses and taxes. He has a big family but they live very very comfortably.
Lifestyle in Canada is pretty amazing too. I live close to Vancouver and I can kayak, hike, mountain bike, scuba dive, ski/snowboard all within a 2 hr drive in winter or summer. And shopping in seattle is only 2 hrs away.
Anyways my point is:
1) if you want to quit, don’t. Take a break, become yourself again, if that means going on meds, then so be it. make a decision when you are not depressed and stressed.
2) your local area/country isn’t the only place where you can practise medicine. The world is big, and the need is great. Go travel and find a place that fits you and rewards you!
my facebook is Wen Shuang N if you wanna chit chat one on one!
Disclaimed: I am not a recruiter!!
Hugs,
Wenshuang
Struggling with the decision
[This is a guest post]
“Thank you so much for this website. I have been feeling so alone in trying to make the decision to put my medical career on hold to stay home with my family. I am just back from an extended mat leave (my third in 5 years) and feeling burnt out already. I find the work-home balance so tough, even working part-time with help from a wonderful nanny who our kids love. I find I’m always playing catch-up at home and work, feeling guilty about unmet expectations (mostly my own!). Can’t help but wonder if I just need some more time to adjust back at work? Am I disillusioned by our broken medical system? Am I exhausted by the complex patients I see as one of the only subspecialists in our area? In my heart I know I won’t regret more time at home. I feel these years are too precious to waste being on call, feeling stressed/anxious all the time. I want the crazy rushing to stop,but will I be making a HUGE mistake?
I can’t help but fear that if I do leave, the longer I’m away from medicine, the more difficult it will be to return (it certainly has been this time around after 18 months away).
Thankfully my busy MD hubby is supportive of whatever I do. I know his life will be easier with me at home. Will our marriage be better with me at home? Most likely.
I welcome any feedback/comments.”
I’m Getting Out
[This is a guest post]
I’m an anesthesiologist who has been in private practice for about 11 years. I started to realize in residency that medicine didn’t make me happy, but I kept thinking things would get better once I broke out into private practice. I’m still waiting. My partners are a bunch of greedy, backstabbing sharks. I look at my patients as lawsuits waiting to happen. I don’t enjoy Big Brother Government looking over my shoulder and telling me how to do my job.
To further add to my discontent, three years ago, my hospital had an outbreak of hepatitis C cases. The outbreak was traced back to a surgical tech with a drug problem. She was stealing fentanyl from our anesthesia carts when we weren’t in the room, injecting herself, and replacing the dirty syringes, which she refilled with saline. Two of my patients were infected and both of them sued. One had a particularly nasty attorney who managed to put me through hell. The experience nearly broke my spirit, certainly as a doctor, but also as a caring human being.
I can’t (and won’t) do it anymore. Following the ordeal, I wrote a fictional account of my story. It’s at the stage where it’s ready to be published.
I guess everything happens for a reason. I’ve discovered that I really enjoy writing, and have been told that I’m quite good at it. If my book achieves reasonable success, which I anticipate it will, I am OUT. And I will NEVER regret it.
Left Clinical Medicine and Loving It!
[This is a guest post]
“I lasted a whopping eleven years in the field as a primary care pediatrician battling managed care restrictions, insurance companies, and terminally broken administrations. I loved my colleagues and my patients, but a few years ago I wore down and burned out after so many years of increasing administrative duties, and less and less support being provided as time went by.
Rather than try to dust myself off again working as a physician, I made the somewhat unorthodox decision to completely restart my career as a consultant and foreign language interpreter, much to the horror of my colleagues.
It has actually been a really positive experience to take my skills and knowledge and just apply them in a different way. Being my own boss is the most wonderful experience, and honestly at this point I don’t think I could ever go back to working for an organization and a system full-time. I may dip my foot back in the clinical practice pool at some point, but it will definitely be on my terms in a way that fits in with my life, instead of taking it over.
Thanks Philippa for providing this venue!”
~lumi
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.”
