Thinking about how leaving the medical profession makes me wonder how or if it differs from leaving other professions or occupations. Is it different for a person leaving Medicine than for someone leaving for example th teaching profession or the legal profession? Probabaly not hugely. Any long time profession can have a huge effect on the way one perceives oneself and how others perceive you too. It affects your status in society too. Maybe leaving medicine is different because of the way hat many people regard being a doctor as if it is more than a job, that it is a ‘vocation,’ rather like being a priest or other member of the clergy

But is it really a vocation? These days when people going to Medical school tend to be those with very high academic grades at school  may or may not be the most suitable in terms of people and communication skills and may not be best suited to life as a doctor. Perhaps when those people want to leave Medicine they find it easier than those who really connected more with their patients and Medicine really did take over their lives so much more.  What do you think?

Radcliffe has agreed to publish my new book about  ‘Life After Medicine’ so now the work begins! It will be a few more days or weeks until I have the manuscript ready to send to them and the process of publishing can take another few months.

This process has parallels about life after medicine and retirement in general too. You have to have an overall plan in your  mind, just like the ‘big picture’ when you start to write a book. However just as you start to write a book chapter by chapter so too in life you have to break down the big goals in smaller manageable chunks. That’s all helped by motivation and determination. Chapter by chapter until the task is finally completed. But that’s not all of it. The chapters have to link together in some way, just as your smaller tasks should be parts going forward to the bigger picture.

Even when finally published (or when you reach your goal) the work isn’t finished. As far as a book is concerned it’s no good stopping when the physical book is published, you have to tell people about it and hope to persuade them to buy it!  When you reach your goal you have to keep going and maintain what you’ve achieved.

Leaving medicine can be a difficult decision to make. You have been part of a very special professional group for very many years, probably though not necessarily.

However there seems to be something about being part of the medical profession that makes leaving it a very difficult decision. Perhaps it is because of the lenght of the training, the very privileged access to humankind’s high and low moments from birth to death and everything in between, that make leaving this privileged position in society a difficult thing to do. And yet for some (including me) it is the way forward.

It took me about a year to make the decision and since then I’ve had no regrets.  However it took me several years to get out of the doctor’s skin’ and become ‘me.’

How about you? Are you wondering whether or not to take the plunge into the unknown of ‘Life after Medicine’??

When you make that difficult decision you will find there is a life out there. But first consider what you want to move towards outside of medicine. For some of you there may be a middle way, a way to combine working as a doctor and having more of a life too.

When you leave medicine there is a big transition to make, particularly in relation to who you are. Your whole identity is so tied up in your role as medical practitioner that when you leave medicine it takes time for not only you but others too to see you as you are not as your profession.

Some things are so ingrained it’s difficult to let them go. I still from time to time make an ‘instant diagnosis’ when someone goes by with some distinctive body language. However i don’t want to be involved anymore in the conversations about diagnoses with friends who still insist in relating their symptoms in great detail.

So what can you do?

 If you are still involved in medical work then that’s OK, but I’m addressing people like me, wanting to get away from all things medical. Find out who you are without the white coat and the stethoscope and begin to develop yourself in other ways. You may be drawn to something still connected with medicine but different. I coach doctors, www.thedoctorscoach.co.uk,  because I realised that my thirty years of working as a doctor gives me an understanding of the stress of medical practice. You, too may find a way to use your medical experience and ut it to use in a different and interesting way. What do you think? Please add your comments.

Maybe this is a controversial statement but I think that the way doctors have to be very precise and follow certain quite precise procedures, means that they tend to use their logical side (left brain) much more than their creative ‘right’ brain.

When I decided to leave medicine I wanted to paint (and maybe I still do!). However what I actually did was to write creatively. I’ve noticed that it’s sometimes difficult to combine left and right brain functions. When I write non fiction it’s difficult to write fiction.

Anyway today I’ve just finished a new non-fiction book ‘Get Ready for Retirement -how to have a life after work’ It’s for sale on my web site www.getreadyforretirement.co.uk 

There are a growing number of frustrated doctors who are thinking about taking  the leap into life after medicine.  Are you one of them? Do you want to be more creative?  Your comments are welcome

If you are thinking about leaving Medicine you may be wondering if there will be a big gap in your life when you do. That’s what I was most worried about when I decided the time had come for me to leave the profession about 11 years ago. 

The experience of Life After Medicine was, for me very different from my fears. The problem is when you have had a very busy life as a doctor you may have neglected all sorts of hobbies and interests you had as a child or a teenager or as a medical student. All those things you may have said to yourself that you would love to do if only you weren’t so busy. 

Well retirement is your chance to pick up again where you left off many years ago.

An important consideration of course is whether you are planning to move into another paid occupation or whether you want to go where your spirit leads you and have enough savings to make any earnings a bonus rather than a necessity.

Try to define what you think you will most miss after you leave medicine and what you are most looking forward to not doing any more!

For me it was the one to one contact with patients that I missed but what I was glad not to have to do anymore was dealing with the stress of diagnosing and wondering if I had come to the best conclusion for the patient in front of me.

How about you? Please let me know on the comments form what you want and don’t want when you elave medicine.

I’m looking out for your comments.