
It was 415am. I was still in my scrubs but instead of getting changed and going to bed I was on a job board. This time would be different. There's bound to be a non-clinical job that pays well enough so I can leave clinical practice, or at least a lucrative locums job that would allow me to cut down on the number of shifts I was working. Nope. Not today.
This was a common scenario for me. After a rough shift I would scour job boards looking for a way out of clinical medicine. My burnout had reached epic proportions and it was affecting my home life. That is where I drew the line. The funny thing is most people thought I was burned out from working in the ER because of the critically ill patients I took care of. Definitely not. The things that eroded my job satisfaction and happiness at work were:
-Unsustainable patient volumes and patient per hour metrics (not based on quality of care delivered)
-Having to practice defensive medicine
-Threats of lawsuits or formal complaints to the hospital or state medical board
-Excessive time spent documenting in the EHR
-Shift work
-Lack of true medical emergencies that came to the ER
I constantly had a smoldering level of burnout that would become intolerable after difficult shifts, so I turned to job boards for comfort. Most of my time spent searching for a new job was fruitless, but not completely worthless. I learned a lot about how to search and find jobs, and what jobs are out there for physicians who want to leave the bedside, or decrease their clinical hours.
I am a different person now with a significantly improved quality of life, but it took a long time to get here. If you are in a similar boat it is important to know that you are not alone. There is a way out and it is okay to leave clinical medicine if that is the healthiest option for you.
Thanks for reading.