Why do doctors have multiple jobs/positions?

[965978]

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I see this all the time. One of the doctors I shadowed was in clinic only two days a week, then he was an associate professor at the nearby med school, and he was also running a dialysis clinic on the side. One of the doctors I work with is an assistant clinical professor and also works in our clinic 4 days a week. My dad’s friend is a hospitalist that also provides outpatient services.

Why do so many doctors service multiple roles and even have multiple jobs? Surely it’s not about financial reasons.

 

[Tenk]

I see this all the time. One of the doctors I shadowed was in clinic only two days a week, then he was an associate professor at the nearby med school, and he was also running a dialysis clinic on the side. One of the doctors I work with is an assistant clinical professor and also works in our clinic 4 days a week. My dad’s friend is a hospitalist that also provides outpatient services.

Why do so many doctors service multiple roles and even have multiple jobs? Surely it’s not about financial reasons.

Boredom. You pretty much always take a pay cut for academics but it can definitely be more fun.

 

[Lucca]

gotta hustle for that cream

 

[LongLiveThanos]

Working is better than coming home to a nagging wife.

 

[965978]

Working is better than coming home to a nagging wife.

SDN is making me lose faith in humanity lol

 

[Catalystik]

Why do so many doctors service multiple roles and even have multiple jobs? Surely it’s not about financial reasons.

-Younger docs might certainly take on extra roles to help pay off loans, so their spouse can engage in an expensive remodeling job, buy a boat, or acquire a big house. Older docs might have forgotten to save for their kids educational expenses or aim to retire young.

-Medical education involvement keeps you on your toes so you'll always know more than everyone else in the room (except for that hotdog med student who read the most recent Journal of Irreproducible Results before you had the chance). I'd use the word "fun," too.

-Extra clinics at another site may have a concentration of patients in whom you have a particular interest and with whom you've had particular success elsewhere.

-Variety might help to keep burnout at bay.

 

[getdown]

Doctors get put on as additional roles because it's also cheaper to have someone qualified to fulfill multiple roles vs someone who can only do 1 thing. That and having flexibility in what you do keeps things interesting and not boring.

 

[gyngyn]

Because we can!
How amazing is it that we can teach patients, residents, medical students and undergrads... sometimes all in the same day.
We can be consultants to industry or government (CDC, NIH, State, County and local...).
We can be on radio, TV or podcasts.
...and so much more!

 

[965978]

Because we can!
How amazing is it that we can teach patients, residents, medical students and undergrads... sometimes all in the same day.
We can be consultants to industry or government (CDC, NIH, State, County and local...).
We can be on radio, TV or podcasts.
...and so much more!

Do you know if doctors work for the FBI!

 

[Dr. Stalker]

Agent Dana Scully, MD PhD was big with the FBI. Here's her wikipedia (although they forgot the PhD)...She even had her own TV show in the 90s.

Dana Scully - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wow this post shows how old I am lol

 

[LongLiveThanos]

Do you know if doctors work for the FBI!

There are some physicians working as consultants for the CIA but their roles are classified.

 

[gyngyn]

Do you know if doctors work for the FBI!

I know we serve as consultants.
I don't know any agents.

 

[pinkowl250]

Agent Dana Scully, MD PhD was big with the FBI. Here's her wikipedia (although they forgot the PhD)...She even had her own TV show in the 90s.

Dana Scully - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wow this post shows how old I am lol

I must be old then too, lol. She's one of my favorite TV characters and part of the reason I'm interested in becoming an ME.

 

[thumbz]

I wouldn't say I do it because I get bored or because I need money, probably more that I'm a sucker for punishment.

My full time gig is in academics. My "moonlighting" is in a critical access hospital doing more of a frontier medicine thing. I do this to keep my skills sharp and keep "street cred" with my residents.

My hobby was buying a farm which has since turned into a full time side project including honey bees!

So you really can do anything ... (I also have delved briefly into house flipping)

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

The professor gig? That's because they like to teach. Running the dialysis center?

 

[Dr. Stalker]

The professor gig? That's because they like to teach. Running the dialysis center?

https://catalyst.nejm.org/the-big-business-of-dialysis-care/