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Wednesday morning, I shared an elevator ride with a neighbor wearing scrubs.
He was dressed for work and I was dressed for the gym.
We get to talking and it turns out that he’s an interventional radiologist at a nearby hospital.
He asks what I do, seeing as how I’m in a t-shirt and shorts midweek at 7:00 in the morning.
I explain my schedule as a locum cardiac anesthesiologist. I explained how I wanted to work less at my old job, but they told me I couldn’t. So I decided to make it happen on my own.
The door opens at my stop on the 2nd floor.
“Must be nice! I’d love to do that, but I can’t because I have two young kids at home.”
“You don’t have to travel – I just told you I work 20 minutes away (closer than his commute now that I think about it)! Just find positions close by…”
The elevator doors closed.
I shook my head.
Crab mentality
A lifetime of working in academia followed by healthcare predisposes too many doctors and nurses to a deep cynicism.
And so they stay where they are put. The gripes about hours, work conditions, and pay continue.
But nothing changes.
They might even have a moment of clarity – a smile might even cross their face when they hear how someone else escaped while riding the elevator one morning before work!
But that learned cynicism creeps up quickly – Must Be Nice!
They don’t mean to be so pessimistic. They are usually quite happy for those that have found a way out.
But medicine has a very strong Crabs In a Bucket Mentality: If I can’t escape, then neither should you!
Find someone who’s done it and listen to them
My neighbor from the elevator knows about locum work, seems cognizant of the benefits, finds it enviable, but can’t see past a sticking point (a false one at that):
He can’t travel. He has a family and can’t be away from home for stretches at a time.
If you work in our industry and you receive as many recruiting emails and messages on social media, then you already know: the demand for locum contract physicians and nurses is everywhere.
I’d bet he gets them too.
The demand is there. He and I live in the NYC metro area surrounded by a dozen hospitals in a 45 minute drive radius.
I had the same problem he had 2 years ago: I thought these positions were few and far between.
I thought I’d have to disrupt my life to travel, just to have the same headaches I have now.
But I wasn’t really looking.
My wake-up call was when I realized that a close friend from residency made the leap the year before.
I knew he was skilled and shrewd. I respected his decision and even before I discussed his local situation my mind started to turn.
The first thing he told me when he realized I was considering making a change:
Jump in. The water’s warm.
After we spoke for almost an hour, I realized that the local market was there.
And now that I’ve reviewed local and regional anesthesiology jobs for over 18 months, I know there are plenty to go around.
Long distance travel isn’t ideal and no one loves a generic hotel room and bad take out food.
But travel isn’t a necessary condition for locum work.
Not in large, well-represented metro areas.
There are plenty of reasons why you might be unwilling to take the leap. But please make sure those reasons apply to your specialty, in your area, and for your family situation.
The best way to know what the true market is in your area for your specialty is to talk to someone who has gone before you.
Otherwise, the assumptions you hold are keeping you from having the life you want.
The type of life that someone else would characterize as: Must be nice!
You owe it to your family and to your sanity to find someone who can dispel those myths for you.
Go on your specialty message boards, search LinkedIn, and ask about old colleagues who’ve moved on.
You’d be surprised how many of us out here want to help.
Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help:
1) Let’s talk through what choosing your own path through medicine looks like: https://calendly.com/tonyvullo/20min
2) Free Articles and Resources to Help You Reclaim Your Time and Autonomy: www.tonyvullo.com
Help Patients. Work Less.
Do More of Everything Else.
