Can an EM doc practice in an outpatient primary care clinic?

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I'm interested in doing EM but I'm a little concerned about what my lifestyle will be like when I'm 60 years old. Can EM docs make a switch to outpatient primary care? I know IM docs who have done fellowships in Pulm/Critical Care who have made that switch.
I've heard about some EM docs practicing in urgent cares but that doesn't sound appealing.
 
Why not do internal medicine and open your own urgent care and hire a bunch of PA and NP to work for you.
 
1) if you aren’t retired by the time you’re 60, you’re doing it wrong.
2) you can open your own urgent care if you want and run it like a practice. You will most definitely get frequent fliers and do a lot of primary care.
3) you can also work in academics part time later in your career and just be an overseer.

Can’t stress #1 enough for any specialty though.
 
Tenk said:
1) if you aren’t retired by the time you’re 60, you’re doing it wrong.
2) you can open your own urgent care if you want and run it like a practice. You will most definitely get frequent fliers and do a lot of primary care.
3) you can also work in academics part time later in your career and just be an overseer.

Can’t stress #1 enough for any specialty though.
Click to expand...

This is very true. My colleague in my opinion has gamed the system though. She has an urgent care AND a primary care practice in the same occupancy just on separate sides. So her urgent care doesn't get bombarded with frequent fliers for this reason, she also has a no opiate policy so drug seekers are rare as well.
 
Thanks for the info.
However, EM is the specialty I'm most interested in. Other specialties do not interest me as much. I also don't wish to retire from being a physician early; I'd like to remain in practice as long as I can.
Nevertheless, I feel that when I am much older it would be best to leave the stress of the emergency room behind.

Therefore I would like to know specifically whether a board certified EM physician could work in an outpatient primary care office.
 
I'm not sure of the answer, BUT we have an older doctor (80) working at the ER I am at and everyone always just gives him the low acuity patients and he is never on a shift alone.
 
cj_cregg said:
Whether you could, I don't know. Whether you should - I would argue that someone with EM training/40+ years of EM-only experience would not be well-prepared to practice high quality primary care. I have no doubt that acute visits would be handled very well. But primary care is also a ton of chronic disease management, knowing how and when to screen for things, etc. that EM docs don't really do.

For that reason, urgent care might be a better fit than a primary care office.
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I agree with this, and urgent care isn't even that urgent.


Edit: My above statement is meaning WAYYY less stressful that being an EM doc.
 
EM docs can retire at 45 with the kind of money they are paying them... These guys/gals are making $250-300/hr.
 
Sure. I guess you could open up shop and practice as any kind of doctor that you wanted and hope to get paid. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. There’s a reason that family med and internal med are specialties so that one can obtain the necessary training to practice medicine appropriately.
 
You could just do EM -> Sports med, then continue doing EM with some sports med on the side, then transition when you're older. I know a few people that did that. Fellowship is short, and it'll give you skills you'd use in the ED and urgent care if you needed it.
 
VA Hopeful Dr said:
What if, God forbid, you like your job and don't want to retire at 60?
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3. Keep in mind though my post was more specific for EM. If you are in FP or IM or another outpatient clinic, I could see that going into your 60s as you won’t be messing up your circadian rhythm. You still should not be working for money but more for some sort of enjoyment. Ie. You should have all your ducks lined up to retire by 60 in medicine with invested money to live on because you don’t know when you’ll be forced to retire.
 
Last edited:
"If you do aren't retired by 60 you're doing it wrong," spoken like a true 30 y/o. What're going to do? Golf, sailing, get a metal detector and sweep the beaches? Watch reruns of Law and Order? You don't know what you don't know, and at some point in your late 40s, early 50s—which may seem like a heap of years ahead…time goes by fast.

Urgent care centers can be a hit or miss. Location is an imperative—Among my peers, they follow the protocols of McDonalds and build out/rent their centers across the street. We (a few friends and me) set up multi-specialty clinics using that notion built out-patient surgical-centers. Worked out well. You can pretty much do what you enjoy.

MD class of `81
GS
 
bornhuman said:
"If you do aren't retired by 60 you're doing it wrong," spoken like a true 30 y/o. What're going to do? Golf, sailing, get a metal detector and sweep the beaches? Watch reruns of Law and Order? You don't know what you don't know, and at some point in your late 40s, early 50s—which may seem like a heap of years ahead…time goes by fast.

Urgent care centers can be a hit or miss. Location is an imperative—Among my peers, they follow the protocols of McDonalds and build out/rent their centers across the street. We (a few friends and me) set up multi-specialty clinics using that notion built out-patient surgical-centers. Worked out well. You can pretty much do what you enjoy.

MD class of `81
GS
Click to expand...
So you don’t work in an emergency department and are giving career advice to someone wishing to pursue emergency medicine while criticizing the young ED attending.

You must be a surgeon.

You don’t know what YOU don’t know. Just because you haven’t found things more enjoyable than medicine in the last 38 years doesn’t mean the rest of us haven’t. Nobody ever wishes they worked more when they are on their deathbed. I can think of 100+ things I’d rather do than work and I’m sure it will only increase by the time I’m 60.

Also, I can’t resist... law and order and a metal detector? Please... by the time I’m 60, we will have the Oasis equivalent from Ready Player One and I’ll be able to do whatever the hell I want in VR.
 
Thesimplelifeofamyloid said:
This is nonsense. I have an uncle who's been working for 40 years and just got started being paid $350,000 in area with a low cost of living
Click to expand...

I was in disbelief as well. Then a couple of them proved it to me. Im not saying all EM in my area make that much, but my circle of friends that I golf with sure as hell do.
 
There's no reason to go work in a clinic once you reach 60 if you want a better lifestyle.

Its very easy to just pick up a few shifts per month in the fast track with all low acuity patients.
 
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