Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
KevinMD
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking
KevinMD
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking
  • About KevinMD | Kevin Pho, MD
  • Be heard on social media’s leading physician voice
  • Contact Kevin
  • Discounted enhanced author page
  • DMCA Policy
  • Establishing, Managing, and Protecting Your Online Reputation: A Social Media Guide for Physicians and Medical Practices
  • Group vs. individual disability insurance for doctors: pros and cons
  • KevinMD influencer opportunities
  • Opinion and commentary by KevinMD
  • Physician burnout speakers to keynote your conference
  • Physician Coaching by KevinMD
  • Physician keynote speaker: Kevin Pho, MD
  • Physician Speaking by KevinMD: a boutique speakers bureau
  • Primary care physician in Nashua, NH | Kevin Pho, MD
  • Privacy Policy
  • Recommended services by KevinMD
  • Terms of Use Agreement
  • Thank you for subscribing to KevinMD
  • Thank you for upgrading to the KevinMD enhanced author page
  • The biggest mistake doctors make when purchasing disability insurance
  • The doctor’s guide to disability insurance: short-term vs. long-term
  • The KevinMD ToolKit
  • Upgrade to the KevinMD enhanced author page
  • Why own-occupation disability insurance is a must for doctors

Top 10 ways to know it’s time to quit your job as a doctor

Pamela Wible, MD
Physician
August 21, 2014
Share
Tweet
Share

QUIT-640x423

Attention all doctors: The first three are mine. The rest are from miserable colleagues. All true. And common. If you’re a doctor and you recognize anything on this list, please quit your job.

10. You feel nauseated when you see your clinic logo; you alter your commute to avoid streets with your clinic’s billboard.

9. Discouraged by the general despair among staff, you try to be joyful. Then you’re reprimanded by the clinic manager for being “excessively happy.”

8. You dream of leaving medicine to work as a waitress.

7. You envy your sickest patients and/or you develop a perverse pleasure in your patients’ pain.

6. You pray you will be diagnosed with cancer so you can get some time to sleep.

5. You spend your nights trying to keep patients alive while you imagine ways to die by suicide.

4. You work 16 to 24-hour shifts and have not had sex with your spouse in months.

3. You’re a top-rated doctor, yet you daydream about walking into traffic, jumping through the window, or just dying in the course of a normal day.

2. You are counting down the days until retirement during patient appointments.

1. You change your computer password to “f*ck [name of hospital where you work]!!!”

If you’re a doctor, join the physician teleseminar and learn how you can stop suffering and start practicing real medicine.

Pamela Wible pioneered the community-designed ideal medical clinic and blogs at Ideal Medical Care. She is the author of Pet Goats and Pap Smears. Watch her TEDx talk, How to Get Naked with Your Doctor. 

Prev

What a golf course taught me about patient satisfaction

August 20, 2014 Kevin 1
…
Next

How we cope with a cancer diagnosis starts in childhood

August 21, 2014 Kevin 2
…

Tagged as: Primary Care

< Previous Post
What a golf course taught me about patient satisfaction
Next Post >
How we cope with a cancer diagnosis starts in childhood

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Pamela Wible, MD

  • When health care professionals lose everything

    Pamela Wible, MD
  • Surgeon suicides: Unveiling a silent crisis

    Pamela Wible, MD
  • 13 tips for depressed doctors who need confidential mental health care

    Pamela Wible, MD

More in Physician

  • The cost of chaos in medical malpractice litigation

    Howard Smith, MD
  • Doctors leave California over a tilted legal system

    Kayvan Haddadan, MD
  • Integrity in medicine is quietly under strain

    Patrick Hudson, MD
  • How to negotiate a physician sabbatical in private practice

    Sarah Gebauer, MD
  • Why patient understanding is the missing metric in medicine

    Joseph A. Rotella, MD, DC
  • Pilot mental health is a safety issue, not a stigma

    Timothy Lesaca, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • How corporate health care ruined the medical profession

      Edmond Cabbabe, MD | Physician
    • Medicare practice expense cuts will hurt patients

      John Birkmeyer, MD | Policy
    • Transforming sepsis care with rapid host response diagnostics

      Jasjot S. Johar, MD | Conditions
    • Why career pivots are a valid path in medical training

      Whitney Black, MD | Physician
    • Why experiential consent is replacing traditional medical consent forms

      Ron Tongbai, MD | Physician
    • Silence at the chessboard changed how I talk to patients [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why clinicians fail at writing expert reports

      Tracy Liberatore, Esq, PA | Conditions
    • Rethinking the role of family physicians vs. specialists

      Ronald L. Lindsay, MD | Physician
    • How corporate health care ruined the medical profession

      Edmond Cabbabe, MD | Physician
    • Clinicians are failing at value-based care because no one taught them the system [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why clinical listening skills outpace artificial intelligence

      Ryan Egeland, MD, PhD | Tech
    • The hidden clinical cost of HCC coding in primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • She was learning to keep others breathing while losing her own air [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The cost of chaos in medical malpractice litigation

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • The rising cost of clinical placements for nursing students

      Ksenia Kiseleva, RN | Education
    • Doctors leave California over a tilted legal system

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Integrity in medicine is quietly under strain

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Surviving cystic fibrosis: a double lung transplant journey

      Rebecca Poole and Raymond Poole | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 243 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • How corporate health care ruined the medical profession

      Edmond Cabbabe, MD | Physician
    • Medicare practice expense cuts will hurt patients

      John Birkmeyer, MD | Policy
    • Transforming sepsis care with rapid host response diagnostics

      Jasjot S. Johar, MD | Conditions
    • Why career pivots are a valid path in medical training

      Whitney Black, MD | Physician
    • Why experiential consent is replacing traditional medical consent forms

      Ron Tongbai, MD | Physician
    • Silence at the chessboard changed how I talk to patients [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why clinicians fail at writing expert reports

      Tracy Liberatore, Esq, PA | Conditions
    • Rethinking the role of family physicians vs. specialists

      Ronald L. Lindsay, MD | Physician
    • How corporate health care ruined the medical profession

      Edmond Cabbabe, MD | Physician
    • Clinicians are failing at value-based care because no one taught them the system [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why clinical listening skills outpace artificial intelligence

      Ryan Egeland, MD, PhD | Tech
    • The hidden clinical cost of HCC coding in primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • She was learning to keep others breathing while losing her own air [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The cost of chaos in medical malpractice litigation

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • The rising cost of clinical placements for nursing students

      Ksenia Kiseleva, RN | Education
    • Doctors leave California over a tilted legal system

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Integrity in medicine is quietly under strain

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Surviving cystic fibrosis: a double lung transplant journey

      Rebecca Poole and Raymond Poole | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today

Copyright © 2026 KevinMD.com | Powered by Astra WordPress Theme

  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Top 10 ways to know it’s time to quit your job as a doctor
243 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...