Non-clinical break

[Phantom Spike]

If someone mid-to-late career wanted to take a year or so off from clinical work, say for a non-clinical position, to travel, or to try another path, how hard would it be to then return? Is there anyone here who has successfully done this? I suppose one option is to do locums a couple of times a year, but that's not always practical.

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[90sportsfan]

Im just a med student (going into Neurology), so I don’t have an accurate answer, but am wondering if it would impact your license in any way or if you would need to report that you took a year off? When you renew your license I’m sure you report dates, so it could be something you at least need to explain at some point. Although maybe not since people could be in between jobs. But a year may be a long enough gap that you’d need to explain at some point.

 

[Aldertonghen]

There was someone here who worked in the summer as locums for 100 days, and had the rest 8-9 months off. That’s not a year, but it is a significant amount of time.

 

[GuillainMollaret]

No experience with this, but I imagine taking off a year is probably doable but there may be a few extra hoops to jump through when you return to prove you're still clinically competent. Taking two or more years off would probably be more difficult.

Going part time or switching to locums would be the alternative.

Most of my mid to late career colleagues are 0.8 FTE.

 

[Phantom Spike]

What would these extra hoops be, I wonder? What if one were to take an administrative position, for example, with no direct patient contact, but maintained licenses and CME? After let's say two years, what would one need to do to get hospital-privileged again? Even to get locums after that period might be hard.

 

[Telamir]

I know when applying for a license or privileges anywhere they ask you to explain any "gaps" in your employment of 6 months or more. I'd imagine you'd have to do that. I have some friends who have taken 6 months off exactly and go back to work then. They just had to explain that they took some time off/sabbatical/vacation, etc.

If you wanted to really scale back I'd do locums and work a week a month (some jobs allow for this) and do it that way.

As far as going to locums: In my experience it's easy to get back into a clinic job, or go from inpatient to clinic that viceversa.

Why not take the admin job and have a carve-out to do some clinic every now and then? It should also keep your skills sharp.

 

[Treehouse105!]

While I am not mid to later career (less than 5 years after fellowship) I had about a 11 month non clinical gap before obtaining my new job. It was a non-issue. I explained why (travel/family). The question will come up on interviews, onboarding and licensing but it was not a big deal for me. I had multiple job offerings (academic and private) and had no problem with state licensing. There is a real need for neurologists and unless the gap is covering up for something like a red flag (i.e dismissal etc) , do not be concerned and live your life.