Medical Non-clinical options with a medical degree

[Question]

I imagine I’m not the only one in this position. Any guidance is greatly appreciated. I graduated from a residency program and have since been working in clinical medicine. To say that I am miserable is an understatement. I feel somewhat ashamed admitting this, but this is not what I thought my life would be like after getting through medical school and residency. I am certain that I can’t do this for another 30+ years.

Over the past few years or so, I have tried to contemplate other pathways/careers using my medical training. I am 100% positive that I do not want to pursue clinical medicine. I’m also about 90% certain I do not want to return to fellowship (if I did, I would’ve done this directly after residency). We were told during medical school that your options are essentially limitless with an MD behind your name, even if you do not choose to go into patient care. Is this true or just wishful thinking? Any ideas for possibly pursuing a non-clinical career? Thanks in advance!

— Experts please respond to this post —

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Yes, there are many non-patient care jobs you can do.

Have you worked at the same place for two years?

 

[GoSpursGo]

Agree, there are several threads recently in our General Residency forum about this kind of question with useful responses, particularly as you are board certified (unlike the residents/dismissed residents) asking the question: General Residency Issues

I will ask, though--do you think you could do this if so much of what you're doing wasn't COVID? Or could the parts that are intolerable to you be alleviated if you were working somewhere else, or not doing shift work?

 

[AlteredScale]

We were told during medical school that your options are essentially limitless with an MD behind your name even if you do not choose to go into patient care. Is this true or just wishful thinking? Any ideas for possibly pursuing a non-clinical career? Thanks in advance!

Yes, you have a lot of other avenues. They are just a bit harder to find. Working as a medical director for certain programs. Doing research. Teaching at a medical school. These are all non clinical avenues to pursue.

 

[PTPoeny]

As mentioned above you have some additional options that won't show up in the threads mentioned. Some important things to consider are: Would you like your job if you did a lot less of it? Do you need/want to leave clinical practice immediately or would you be happy if you were on a path to transition out of clinical practice but it would take a few years?

 

[SurfingDoctor]

The real question is why are you miserable? Like what specifically do you dislike and it is correctable or not. There are other avenues of non-clinical work. For instance, I had a colleague go back to school to get an MBA because clinical work made them physically ill (ie, they were burned out) and now they work for a pharmaceutical company doing marketing and product development. There are also avenues in insurance, medical writing, program management.

I guess the bottom line, if you don't want to see patients, there are avenues to do that with an MD if you stick in the healthcare field. I think its still important to really look down deep though and figure out "why?" because more often than not, the grass is not greener on the other side and you end up instead exchanging one set of problems for another.