With burnout on the rise, many doctors are choosing to leave clinical medicine for alternative careers.
Others are wondering if it’s worth it to stay in a workforce that does not pull for the well being of their front line workers.
Gone are the days where health care professionals stay stuck, suffering in a practice or career that is no longer fulfilling or worse, causing burnout.
Those physicians are considered old-school and are destined to fall by the wayside.
Ask yourselves: What is the ideal career for me?
You answer that and your journey begins.
Some choose to stay and practice medicine but if you wonder what non-medical careers are there for you, what else you could do with your medical degree and you are considering using your MD for another purpose besides patient care, here are your options.
Writing. There are several ways to earn income as a writer. Most will automatically think of publishing a book.
This is but one option that allows for earning income.
There are opportunities to be a paid blog writer, test question contributor, and medical freelance writer.
There are a plethora of resources on how to make the transition to a successful medical writer.
Onlіnе learning/marketing. Many are becoming open-minded and making their way into the online business world.
There are several options including the online learning industry, classes, webinars, and even self-published and PLR book sales.
Additionally, becoming an online marketer can produce a solid secondary source of income with the right training and resources.
There are many books and marketing coaches that can get you on the pathway to creating your successful online business.
Consulting. Medical expertise is frequently sought after by pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies when they are creating, testing and investigating new products.
If you are someone who has always loved research, this may be a pathway of interest for you.
Consider leveraging your pharmaceutical and device reps to find potential opportunities with companies of interest.
You likely have more influence than you know.
Exреrt wіtnеѕѕ. While, we hope it will never be us, doctors are being sued all of the time.
Whether defending a colleague who is not liable or providing testimony for another one who is liable, this is an area where you can create a non-medical career utilizing your clinical expertise.
Additionally, as an expert witness you can make a decent income without having to work 60 to 80 hours a week.
Consider this as a career path if you are interested in keeping doctors accountable and having justice be balanced and fair towards your colleagues.
Concierge medicine. If you want to continue to provide quality patient care but on your own terms, concierge medicine may be a good option for you.
With this style of practice, you can see patients for longer times, see fewer patients overall, and give more personalized care.
Furthermore, since this is a cash-based model, you don’t have to worry about fighting with insurance for payment as you always receive 100 percent of what you bill.
There are several models of the concierge model including annual membership, monthly membership, and hybrid insurance models.
Hiring a practice consultant familiar with these types of practices is a good way to get started.
Another option is to ask someone you know personally who may running this type of practice.
Just to mention that there already are large companies now that transition private practices into concierge practices.
Public speaking / live events. If you are someone who loves to speak, train and be on stage.
Making the most out of your medical degree by educating the masses may be the pathway for you.
Doctors can earn a significant living speaking for conferences, hospital organizations and societies, and corporations on various health and medical topics, so keep that in mind.
Coaching. Coaching is becoming an increasingly popular career choice for many professions.
Life coachers are getting more and more regardlessly of their first diploma that might guide them also to other,whole different professional paths.
Doctors have the opportunity to provide coaching to their patients, other doctors, or hospital executives.
Coaching areas include wellness, nutrition, leadership, business or…career transition!
Television / radio personality. There are many doctors who have turned to television or radio as a non-medical career.
There are many ways to enter into the media industry as either a television or radio personality.
Additionally, several reality shows employ medical experts, and also to feature as the reality star.
If you are interested in being in the television industry but not in front of the camera, consider being a consultant or writer to a fictional medical series.
These are just a few non-clinical medical careers available that wants to either supplement their income or transition out of medicine altogether.
Of note, for many of these are options, you do not have to quit your day job in order to be profitable and successful in the non-clinical realm.
