Sylvie Stacey - 50 Nonclinical Careers for Physicians: Fulfilling, Meaningful, and Lucrative Alternatives to Direct Patient Care

Dr. Stacy has put together a brilliant map down the road less traveled that every physician should be aware of whether they choose to go down it or not. Some might pursue this path right out of medical school while others will use it for a side hustle or an encore career. Still others might simply dream briefly of leaving clinical medicine after a bad week. No matter your career goals, knowing your options will allow you to be intentional in your pursuit of self-fulfillment and service to others. More options mean less burnout and better patient care, and thats a good thing for everybody involved.

James M. Dahle, MD, FACEP

Editor and Founder, The White Coat Investor, LLC

If youre at a crossroads in your career, 50 Nonclinical Careers for Physicians: Fulfilling, Meaningful, and Lucrative Alternatives to Direct Patient Care , is your go-to source to find out about all the options you have to still make a difference, enjoy your work, and have a great life. Dont wait a day to read this book, it could change your life.

Heather Fork, MD, MCC

Master Certified Coach and Founder, The Doctors Crossing

Having enjoyed a career that has spanned several of the sectors covered in this book, I can attest that these jobs exist, are satisfying, and capitalize on our skills as medical doctors. This comprehensive compilation of nonclinical options is required reading for any medical provider considering taking their career beyond the bedside.

John Whyte, MD, MPH

Chief Medical Officer at WebMD

Now more than ever, physicians have a wide variety of nonclinical career choices opening up in a broad range of industries. In fact, our firm is working more and more with physician executives who are exploring advancement outside of the traditional care industry. Dr. Stacys guide is an excellent and comprehensive resource for physiciansat any stage of their careerlooking for meaningful, rewarding alternatives to clinical practice.

Paul Esselman

President of Cejka Search

Where was this book while I was in training? You will find not only myriad examples of nonclinical careers but also real life examples of doctors thriving along this path. This should be required reading for medical students so that they understand how to have an impact within the hospital walls and outside of it.

Nii-Daako Darko, DO, MBA

Trauma surgeon and host of Docs Outside the Box podcast

Copyright 2020 by Sylvie Stacy

978-0-9848310-7-4 Print

978-0-9848310-8-1 eBook

Published by American Association for Physician Leadership, Inc.

PO Box 96503 | BMB 97493 | Washington, DC 20090-6503

Website: www.physicianleaders.org

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This publication is designed to provide general information and is sold with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, ethical, or clinical advice. If legal or other expert advice is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

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Copyedited, typeset, indexed, and printed in the United States of America

PUBLISHER

Nancy Collins

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Jennifer Weiss

DESIGN & Layout

Carter Publishing Studio

COPYEDITOR

Elizabeth Durand

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

John F. Kennedy

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for all the physicians who inspired me to write this bookthose who asked for career advice, those who said they felt unfulfilled, and those who shared their unique career paths with me.

My sincere thanks to Dr. Peter Angood, Nancy Collins, and everyone at the American Association for Physician Leadership who invested time and effort in moving this book from manuscript to publication.

To the books interviewees (who are also colleagues, mentors, and friends): Thank you for the informative, rich interviews and your willingness to pass along your experiences and wisdom.

I appreciate all the readers of my blog, Look for Zebras , whose questions and feedback were sources of ideas on what to include and how to structure the career profiles that are included.

Scott, when I first mentioned that I wanted to write this book, thank you for replying, That sounds like a good idea, babe.

About the Author

Sylvie Stacy received her MD from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed a residency in preventive medicine at Johns Hopkins, obtaining an MPH along the way. She has held nonclinical jobs in medical writing, medical education, utilization management, and clinical documentation improvement.

Realizing a mismatch between countless nonclinical opportunities for physicians and the large percentage of unfulfilled physicians who arent aware of these possibilities or how to go about making a transition in their careers, she set out to inform and educate her peers.

Her blog and online community, Look for Zebras , aims to equip medical professionals with the information and knowledge needed to take charge of their professional fulfillment and earn income doing work they enjoy. It offers a job board, answers to reader-submitted questions about nonclinical careers, resource downloads, and a weekly digest of nonclinical, telecommuting, and unique job openings and consulting opportunities for physicians.

She lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her best-ever husband, Scott.

For more of Sylvies writing or to be in touch, visit: LookforZebras.com

Foreword

A t our essential core, we all want to feel safe, be healthy, stay happy, and be able to live our lives with ease and minimal discomfort. The paths we individually choose for professional satisfaction factors heavily into how successful we become in meeting those four core needs over the course of a career trajectory. Health cares frontline workforce is widely recognized as altruistic and highly committed to providing care for others; however, it is constrained and increasingly requires closer consideration for how to maintain its own wellness. Paying attention to new developments in the science of medicine, as well as those developments occurring peripheral to the core of medical research and clinical care, is challenging physicians in a constellation of ways that are unprecedented.

As an industry, health care is inherently complex. And it is an industry requiring ongoing refinements at so many levels. Arguably, health care essentially remains as a free-market economy in the United States. Assuming that premise for the moment, there are roughly 16 to 18 different sectors in the industry (including governmental agencies), each vying for their portion of the $3.5 trillion spent annually on health care in this country. For an industry that has self-recognized, it still has 25% to 30% waste and inefficiency, as well as a 10% major error rate. There is clearly much that remains to be accomplished before health care can honestly say it will be able to consistently deliver on better quality, safety, efficiency, and value for our patients and their families.