Physician work is stellar, as it is both fulfilling and pays fantastically. However, when you feel burnt out, but still want to use your physician knowledge and skill sets, transitioning into a new career path can be attractive. For those looking to make a change, here are eight non-traditional jobs that physicians can excel at.
1. Physician Coach
Even professional, well-experienced physicians need primers on new medical technology and innovations every now and then. With this in mind, physician coaches are hired to travel around and do this prep and education work to keep physicians on top of their game. If you want to take on this role, you can help ensure that Americans are getting the best healthcare humanly possible. Sites such as Medicus Firm can help you search for these positions and many other healthcare roles across the nation.
2. Medical Consultant
The medical industry needs representatives to talk to other industries, government officials, legal workers, and the general public. Physicians are often notorious for having difficulty doing the PR side of the job, but if you excel in this area, you can work a lot less, and still make a lot of money, by becoming a professional medical consultant. While the job is not for everyone, it is highly satisfying and can help you lead a less hectic life outside of the doctor’s office.
3. Health IT Work
Do you love to work with computers and programs? For the IT nerds out there, making a transition out of the doctor’s office, and into the computer lab can feel freeing. You’ll have plenty of connections to the medical industry still, but without the immense stress that being a full-time physician typically comes with. Health-based IT work is exploding right now, so the demand for talented IT workers who also know professional medical terms is high. You’ll get the chance to make sure all the systems that connect patients, doctors, and other medical professionals together are up and working at all times.
4. Medical Educator
To keep the nation’s medical workers prepared to give the best medical care humanly possible, we need excellent medical trainers and educators to grow the next generation. Many physicians who find themselves a bit too old and sore to continue around-the-clock office work find themselves transitioning to the classroom. Medical educators will always be needed, and the work they do is absolutely invaluable to the nation’s health, and the medical profession as a whole. If you want to pay it forward with your medical education and expertise, becoming a medical educator is a stellar idea.
5. Healthcare Attorney
While much harder to transition into, there are people out there who have both medical and legal degrees. These world-class overachievers can make a lot of money by becoming healthcare attorneys who specialize in everything from medical malpractice lawsuits to medical patent lawsuits. If you’re looking to use your sharp wit and wide knowledge base, you can make a ton by joining a firm that specializes in healthcare attorneys. However, this is not the best transition for those looking to lower their stress levels, as legal work is just as exhausting as medical work at times.
6. Concierge Physician
Concierge physicians, also referred to as “direct practice”: and “retainer-based medicine” medical workers, are one of America’s fastest-growing medical professions. These pros specialize in patient care on the side that deals with insurance companies, payment, and more unique medication needs. If you’re looking for a way to make lots of money while you save your patients a ton of money and stress, this career should appeal to you.
7. Healthcare Administrator
Every doctor’s office and ER across the country rely on quality healthcare administrators to keep the chaos behind the scenes wieldy. Without the tireless work of administrators, nurses, physicians, and clerks would be lost as to what their most important tasks are from moment to moment, after all. The fact that healthcare administrators often make a solid salary for a job that’s less hands-on with patients makes it a solid career to transition into if you’re currently tired of working as a physician.
8. Professional Medical Writer
Writing about the medical industry is not an easy task. For this reason, some of the top medical blogs and journals are constantly on the lookout for actual medical professionals who want to try on their writing shoes. The more talented you are as a writer, the more likely you’ll be to land an incredibly cushy job for a medical publication. If you’re tired of the exhausting, long hours of being a full-time physician, the more laid-back, less time-sensitive nature of writing about medicine (instead of practicing it) will likely be incredibly attractive.