Once you decide to leave clinical Medicine, contrary to the excitement you’d expect colleagues and friends to share at your new prospects, the reaction is often one of dismay. “Rob, don’t you regret it? Don’t you miss the interaction with patients and making a difference?”
It’s an easy response - it depends on your reason for pursuing medicine in the first place. If it’s a love of the subject matter and practising the craft, understandably this decision doesn’t make much sense. If it’s for the love of working with people and making a difference - there’s certainly a lot out there that could tick these boxes outside of the clinical sphere. Making a difference is not exclusively reserved for the inside of a clinic or hospital.
When I announced a departure (of sorts) from seeing patients entirely, the response was more visceral than expected. Individuals ranging from acquaintances to good friends were perplexed; it was something to be sad about - a loss to the profession.
That said - if every single doctor out there was exclusively involved in clinical medicine, who would be driving clinical research, medical technology, and the host of other sub-fields that are also critical for the forward march of the profession?
Professional pockets for doctors outside the hospital and clinic do exist. They’re niche and less easy to access, but they are certainly there. My clinical career has spanned general practice and ED, with clinical research and corporate comprising the non-clinical roles. So how do less conventional roles stack up? Do these still offer the potential for job satisfaction?
There’s a pragmatic way of looking at stepping out of the familiarity of a clinical career. When an offer appears, ask yourself “What do I value in my work?”
Let’s say you value people and the interactions that stem from being in the same digital or physical space. This need is met by clinical medicine - there are opportunities for meaningful interactions with colleagues and patients alike. In clinical research, one could argue this need is still met - you see trial participants and your colleagues. In the corporate space, while you don’t see patients anymore, you spend a substantial portion of your day interacting with colleagues and mentors. The fulfilment is still there.
If one of your priority job requirements is being challenged, well, that certainly can be found in clinical medicine - but being challenged often overlaps with sheer exhaustion. Navigating a broken state health system and finding novel solutions to the many hurdles is rewarding, but that novelty wears thin in the context of worsening systemic apathy. Clinical research also keeps you on your toes - whether it’s changes to research protocols, recruitment strategies to be adapted or some new macro pressure that needs to be navigated.
Corporate is the most taxing of the lot. The deadlines and sheer volume of work are comparable to some of the most formidable clinic queues. Whether you’re intending to do overtime or not, it is a regular occurrence. Perhaps a pause here to say this paragraph isn’t lamenting the space - on the contrary, the dynamism and evolving environment provide something to look forward to every day. However, do not expect your workload to decline, or that work-life balance will be better than the hospital you stepped out of.
Do I recommend it though? Certainly.
Many of our homegrown MDs possess extraordinary tenacity - and could be major contributors to non-clinical spaces - but they’re petrified of leaving that familiar rhythm of seeing patients. I’m certainly not advocating for doctors to leave their profession (goodness knows we have few enough) - but I am challenging those of you teetering on the edge to try something new. Take the plunge; more likely than not, you’ll be brilliant in the new space.