Listening to doctors on the internet, there's so much doubt, second-guessing and escapism - dreaming of side gigs and non-clinical jobs and more.
Some even go as far as questioning their choice to go into medicine in the first place.
For most, giving up your medical career would be a classic error in judgment you will always regret.
The core reason for wanting to escape your current reality is our shared loss of autonomy as practicing Physicians. Over the last 25 years we've seen a generational loss of control over all aspects of your practice - the structure of your team and the contents of the hours of your work day.
How did this happen?
The single source of this tragedy is the shift in Physician's relationship with their job.
Today 73% of American doctors are employees - you probably are too.
In just one generation we've gone from physician partners and owners to simple cogs in the machine of the healthcare industry - RVU generators and nothing more.
Every minute of your work week is dictated by the combination of
- your job description,
- your employer's revenue model
- and the leadership quality of your personal boss.
3 strikes and you're out of control.
EXAMPLE:
When I started my practice back in the 1990s I was a partner in both the practice and the real estate partnership - with a guaranteed golden handshake when I quit or retired. As a family doc, I had an RN by my side rooming my patients and handling phone calls. We charted on paper and I saw 30 patients a day without being slowed by documentation and EMR and we had 3 human receptionists in the lobby booking appointments just the way we wanted.
That was a normal job for a family doc at that time.
Compare that to your current reality - employee on a W2, not guaranteed to have even your own MA assisting you every day, spending twice as much time on EMR as face-to-face with patients, victim of the terrible scheduling of your mandatory call center template.
Understand this: that's a crap job not a reason to quit medicine!
THE RESULT? Today's 63% physician burnout rate.
If you look in the mirror and begin to question your choice to apply to medical school in the first place I encourage you to think again.
Don't let a crap job make you question who you are.
You chose to be a Lightworker as an expression of your heart and soul and core values. Stepping away from medicine will lead to a profound sense of disappointment at the end of your life.
Instead consider yourself simply at the end of your beginning. You have enough water under your bridge to know what you want and what you don't want.
Now is the time to stop tolerating this daily grind and take back your practice - moving step by step in the direction of the life you dreamed of when you mailed off that med school application in the first place.
In the next blog post I'll show you why step one to take back your practice is ...
STOP BEING SUCH A GOOD RESIDENT.
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PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT
Imagine you walked away from your medical career because of the pressures of your current job. How do you imagine that will that feel 20 - 30 years from now?
Are you ready to begin taking your practice back?