Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • 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

Never let a bad job or bad people convince you to quit medicine

Barbara Lazio, MD
Physician
May 2, 2022
Share
Tweet
Share

If you asked the third-grade version of most doctors what they wanted to be when they grew up, I bet most would have said, “I want to be a doctor!” I doubt many would have said “hospital administrator” or “life coach.”   Yet, according to a recent Medscape survey, nearly one-quarter of physicians are considering a shift to non-clinical careers.  They are burned out and want to work fewer hours. Corporate medicine is not what they expected. They are becoming lawyers and MBAs.  Why are they abandoning their third-grade dreams?  Should I disappoint the third-grade version of me and leave too? Third-grade me loved dogs. I could still be a dog-walker.

Burned out doctors are filling the internet daily with reasons why they are leaving clinical practice.  Fighting the power of suggestion, I have decided that each day I will try to find a reason not to leave.  Yesterday I stayed because my patients appreciate what I do.

I will not leave clinical practice today because I chose this profession and I get to decide.

There are many reasons doctors are leaving clinical practice: too much administrative oversight, lack of respect from peers/patients/public, not enough support for non-clinical tasks, compensation challenges, and of course adapting our practices to a long-haul pandemic.  The Medscape survey cited one reason that has not received much press: They “just don’t like being a physician.”   This should be number one.

Over the years, I have run into several doctors who made me wonder if they wanted to be a doctor in the first place.  They were the ones who would seem disinterested during grand rounds and tumor board, or they would be inviting me to dinner to sell me on their side venture.  Some people get into medicine because that is what their parents did or expected them to do.  Some went into medicine because they liked the hospital dramas they watched on television but later realized the everyday life of a physician is not so glamorous. Some knew they wanted to be doctors, did it, and are ready for something else.  These are the people who should leave clinical practice. They should leave because they do not like the profession not because external factors are making the job miserable.

The doctors who are frustrated by the administrative oversight, lack of respect, etc., maybe just have bad jobs. Maybe as a health care culture, we have turned the practice of medicine, at least for some, into a bad job.  Early in my career, I was irked by a practice manager who suggested the doctors just needed to do more surgery in the face of declining reimbursement.  I was overwhelmed with call at a level 1 trauma center and had small children. I was so exhausted that I thought about quitting neurosurgery.  What a crazy idea! Why should I give up my career because this guy made my job difficult?   His job was to facilitate our success.

I vowed then to never let a bad job or bad people convince me to quit my profession.  I have invested a lot to satisfy my third-grade aspirations. I am not going to let someone else ruin it for me.  I would do what I could to fix the job so I could enjoy my profession or find another job that was a better fit.  We fired the practice manager and hired a person who cleaned up his financial mess. Life improved. That is how I define self-care.

Self-care is a favorite buzzword among those trying to keep health care workers from burning out and quitting.  There are articles about how providers need to carve out time for themselves to meditate or practice yoga.  Meditation is quite powerful for stress and pain management.  I have been seen teaching my patients how to practice deep breathing when they seem to be coming unglued in the hospital. Yet, when a doctor’s mantra is “faster turnover,” the benefits of meditation diminish.  When our leadership suggests we practice more self-care, we have to feel empowered to tell them, “While I love yoga, what I really need is on-site childcare, a scribe in the clinic, and more staff in the operating room to reduce turnover time.  Then I can finish work and do yoga.”

I have a lot of respect for those physicians who have done their best to fix their jobs and ultimately decided to leave what my colleague calls the World of the Damaged People.  They are brave. Others are putting their clinical skills to use elsewhere in volunteerism, locum tenens, and teaching. Their third-grade selves would be proud.

As for me, I am going to keep on doing neurosurgery. I am not good at anything else.  Truth be told, my dogs pull on the leash and bark at my neighbors’ dogs like rabid wolves.

Today, I will stay.

Barbara Lazio is a neurosurgeon.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Want to improve your patient reviews or relationships? Learn to be present.

May 2, 2022 Kevin 1
…
Next

Permission to burn the manual [PODCAST]

May 2, 2022 Kevin 0
…

ADVERTISEMENT

Tagged as: Neurosurgery

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Want to improve your patient reviews or relationships? Learn to be present.
Next Post >
Permission to burn the manual [PODCAST]

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Barbara Lazio, MD

  • Neurosurgeons fail to fix a wayward night owl

    Barbara Lazio, MD
  • The patient I cannot help and a gun

    Barbara Lazio, MD
  • A neurosurgeon and patient satisfaction scores

    Barbara Lazio, MD

Related Posts

  • Should we encourage people to go into medicine?

    Millennial Doctor, MD
  • How social media can advance humanism in medicine

    Pooja Lakshmin, MD
  • The difference between learning medicine and doing medicine

    Steven Zhang, MD
  • Advocating for people with disabilities: People First Language

    Leonard Wang
  • KevinMD at the Richmond Academy of Medicine

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • Medicine won’t keep you warm at night

    Anonymous

More in Physician

  • When errors of nature are treated as medical negligence

    Howard Smith, MD
  • The hidden chains holding doctors back

    Neil Baum, MD
  • 9 proven ways to gain cooperation in health care without commanding

    Patrick Hudson, MD
  • Why physicians deserve more than an oxygen mask

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • More than a meeting: Finding education, inspiration, and community in internal medicine [PODCAST]

    American College of Physicians & The Podcast by KevinMD
  • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

    Trisza Leann Ray, DO
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

      Trisza Leann Ray, DO | Physician
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Why does rifaximin cost 95 percent more in the U.S. than in Asia?

      Jai Kumar, MD, Brian Nohomovich, DO, PhD and Leonid Shamban, DO | Meds
    • How conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • How conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why young doctors in South Korea feel broken before they even begin

      Anonymous | Education
    • Measles is back: Why vaccination is more vital than ever

      American College of Physicians | Conditions
    • When errors of nature are treated as medical negligence

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • Physician job change: Navigating your 457 plan and avoiding tax traps [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden chains holding doctors back

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician

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 4 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

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

      Trisza Leann Ray, DO | Physician
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Why does rifaximin cost 95 percent more in the U.S. than in Asia?

      Jai Kumar, MD, Brian Nohomovich, DO, PhD and Leonid Shamban, DO | Meds
    • How conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • How conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why young doctors in South Korea feel broken before they even begin

      Anonymous | Education
    • Measles is back: Why vaccination is more vital than ever

      American College of Physicians | Conditions
    • When errors of nature are treated as medical negligence

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • Physician job change: Navigating your 457 plan and avoiding tax traps [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden chains holding doctors back

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Never let a bad job or bad people convince you to quit medicine
4 comments

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

Loading Comments...