Looking back over the last month it has been very rewarding to look at the development of Freelance MD.
It has been interesting to read Jeff’s recent post about Freelance MD’s first 30 days in addition to the resonance the site has had with physicians. Freelance MD was created to offer physicians objective, credible info on a variety of topics which are crucial to modern physicians. We knew entering into to this very project that there seems to be no other site over the internet like this, and we all felt that the topics that individuals is going to be discussing would fill a crucial void. Based on our numbers, it appears to be others agree with us. Jeff and that i sincerely hope you’re simply finding the site to generally be informative and encouraging.
In contemplating the development of Freelance MD together with the beginning of the Medical Fusion Conference, I began to think more about physicians and their careers. I’m inside a rather unique destination in regards to the condition of physicians and their career issues. First, I’m a physician. Second, I come from a family of medical people (my cousin is actually a medical student, my father and brother are surgeons, my sister is a medical malpractice defense attorney, and my mom happens to be an elected official who sponsored wrongful death tort reform inside my home state). Third, I run two national conferences and come into contact with physicians from multiple specialties who practice all over the state. Everything exposure to various types of physicians allows me a wide range of possible opportunity to discuss the very thought of physician career modification and what physicians could be doing to boost their situation.
When the issue of career modification comes up in conversation with my physician friends, it sounds as if most are frustrated utilizing their clinical practices, but they seem completely overwhelmed by the concept of creating a change. These friends are exactly like the survivors of a plane crash within the deserted island that happen to be sitting on the beach in stunned shock realizing they’re now marooned. They’re so overwhelmed with the shock and horror on the crash that they haven’t moved beyond the shock to the point of working towards their survival and, hopefully, escape from the island. They’re still sitting in the sand, wailing, “We’ve crashed! We’ve crashed! All of us are alone! How will any of us survive? Precisely what are we going to do!??!!!”
Look, I’m not saying everything’s rosy and that we shouldn’t have concerns. I believe it’s obvious to everyone that the medical profession has crashed. The days are gone when becoming an excellent clinician may be the only worry of a physician. Today’s physicians really need to balance clinical excellence with billing codes, patient satisfaction scores, duplicitous administrators, underhanded trial lawyers, and a government bureaucracy seemingly set on driving the whole healthcare industry in to the dirt. It isn’t a terrific situation for being in in case there has ever been a period when one could well be justified slightly despair, now’s that time.
However, what I’ve found amazing about Freelance MD and the Medical Fusion Conference is that notwithstanding all of this doom and gloom in medicine, there are a variety of talented individuals who are not simply surviving the existing environment, they’re thriving. These people aren’t sitting in the sand weeping through their losses, they’ve moved from the beach and have taken active, deliberate steps to boost their situation.
I’m reminded of the quip in the author G.K. Chesterton who, when asked by a journalist what book he would most want to have with him if he was ever marooned on a deserted island, said, “Why, A Practical Guide to Shipbuilding, of course…”
The leaders I’ve met?most of whom are authors with this website?are inspirational for the reason that aren’t just moaning about precisely how horrible the crash has been on them or waiting passively at the beach for an individual to rescue them. No, these leaders are out in the jungle, foraging for food, building shelter, scouting out the island for opportunities and, most significantly, making a vessel to have them from the island when the timing is appropriate.
If these individuals have already been so successful for making the transition, why then are so many physicians still moribund, stewing in despair and learned helplessness? How come is making the change so tough for most physicians?
There are a wide range of theories about this there are numerous individuals writing on Freelance MD who happen to be addressing this very issue, but it is vitally important to note what appears to be a universal truth: many physicians are experiencing a hard time adjusting their careers to the existing reality around them.
When we build Freelance MD, one of my own goals is to build this page in the way that offers very practical, systematic steps for physicians to start taking hold of their careers, shaking from the learned helplessness in which they’ve been festering, and commence taking care of their “ship” to get them off their deserted island and back at the way to adventure as well as a more fulfilling career.
Think you’re interested?
In that case, join our motley crew and learn from the experts on this web site. Become involved and ask questions. Give rise to town and teach others what you are learning. In a nutshell, get rolling, right this moment, making the transition on your own.
The amount of time for sand-wallowing is through.
It is time to create your own ship.
Post courtesy of Freelance MD, a nonclinical physician careers community offering physician resources like nonclinical jobs and offering information that allows physicians more control of their career, income and lifestyle, from medical spas to real estate investing.