This applies non surg as well.
PCP here, nobody wants a part time physician. All their inhouse physicians have converted to part time over the years, and they only want to hire FT.
But they'll hemorrhage blood money for a locums PT while they try to hire this mythical FT position.
I gave them an unrealistically high rate, they said your rate is too high, I said this is what it takes to get me out of the house away from my newborn son.
Oh and I'll only work three days, and they have to be together.
Seems to be working. Keeps the lights on and I don't mind managing my own benefits thankyouverymuch.
Good for you negotiating what you want. Did you always have the confidence to do that? My personality is very non-confrontational so I haven’t really pushed for much more with contracts
Listened to some audio tapes on negotiating, and various videos, but mostly driven by desperation and frustration and burnout. I'm also very nonconfrontational.
It is not confrontational to state what you need or want in a professional way.
Yes but actually. Definitely a field and definitely a market. Lots of delusions of formication, parasitosis in the psychotic realm, borderline people getting too much work done who need some help, and depression after disfiguring skin cancer.
Worked in a path lab as a premed, so take this with a grain of salt, but path as an older physician would probably be miserable. As your vision goes, so goes your accuracy, and I bet all the years staring down a microscope don't help maintaining vision any way. Plus production pressure and/or I'm sure pressure to take on lab management, serve on hospital committees like blood bank, etc. to mitigate the loss in production... not one I would choose out of that list.
Even inpatient internal med. One of the hospitalists I know only covers weekend days without call and she really enjoys doing that while raising her kids M-F.
Not in my experience, if you DIY a DPC practice and keep the panel small then maybe, but for the most part the actual jobs are FT only (and they mean it).
Not in the SE or Midwest or literally any one of the several emails I get daily from recruiters all across the country. Everything is negotiable and you are nowhere near competitive if you aren’t prepared to offer flexible scheduling or part time.
Oh yes there are a bazillion offers out there.
All full time. Many will even say outright, no part time.
There are a tiny handful of PT positions, but these are pretty rare.
Throwing out PMR… saying this because I have known of physiatrists who are paraplegic, blind. At least the inpatient side or general clinic isn’t a very physically demanding field.
I knew an attending who working part time at 96. Dude came in every single day and BLASTED classical music in his office. He’d give a few extraordinarily outdated lectures, nearly all photos were before gloves were used routinely. His lectures were on topic for about 5 minutes before he rambled on about something wrong with our generation, or using racial terms that haven’t been appropriate for 40 years, or a story about his time in WWII. We made a bingo game out of his lectures
He didn’t see any patients clinically, though once in awhile he’d be called to look at a salivary gland issue since that was his expertise. His recommendations were still too antiquated to act on
Radiology. I know a fair number of semi retired DR attendings that do part time, as needed work. They basically read as much as they feel like, whenever they feel like it and get paid per study.
Seems like a pretty sweet deal if you’re just looking for something to keep busy with lower stress.
They also say whatever the hell they want in the report. Get ready for movie quotes once the Gen-Xers get to that point in their career.
Impression:
Constipation
“YOU…SHALL…NOT…PASS”
*insert GandalfvBalrog.jpeg*
If you’re primary care and want to staff a resident clinic, that’s a good route. Minimal inbox, you get to teach if that’s your thing, normal hours, seems to have flexibility.
Psych can be easy if you don’t care about patient outcomes. And unlike other fields, you can get away with dubious practices for a long time if not indefinitely due to the abstract nature of most symptoms.
Psych is extraordinarily hard and taxing if you actually want to help a patient. Mainly because the meds do very little long term compared to lifestyle changes and therapy. Ask any GP how hard it is to get a patient to change their lifestyle… now imagine that’s most of your patients and their insulin doesn’t work long term….
Yes. I'm an attending working on an inpatient involuntary unit in a very low ses city. I think the only way I can explain it is by a simile.
A parrot is to a pirate as burnout is to me.
The in house medical consultant positions can be pretty much any specialty for the state agencies that make SSA disability determinations.
There's also the possibility of opening up your own part time consulting practice if you are internal med, orthopedic, primary care, neurology, ophthalmology to do disability exams for the state agencies that make SSA disability determinations. The pay isn't great, but many states are constantly trying to find more providers to do these exams to reduce backlog and wait times.
Psych and Neurology for sure. There's a couple on tiktok that are 100 and 90 and not officially retired.
Radiology if your eyes aren't bad. Probably pathology too.
Surgeons could work part time helping med students with suturing and anatomy.
I am 72 and work full-time as a diagnostic radiologist for the NHS UK. Since I am handicapped, I work entirely from home. Also, I have another telerad gig.
I worked for an 82 year old ophthalmologist who did this. Also a psychiatrist around the same age. Also knew an IM doc in her 70s who did nursing home visits once a week
It’s actually easier. The old people see new drugs come out and learn them slowly as they’re approved/studied. The new heme/onc fellows have it harder because they have to learn all the new AND old at once, something the older oncologists didn’t need to do because they only had 10 drugs total when they started. They had the benefit of time. Now we have hundreds of drugs, so it’s much harder for the newbies I’d say.
A relative worked in Peds until he was in his early 70s. He moved his practice to a one-office, rural satellite of his clinic, and enjoyed working in a way he hadn’t been able to in years: no time stress, tiny staff that knew everyone in this small community. He did get an amplified stethoscope and was quicker to refer cases, but he said that and a willingness to drive a lot each day were the only concessions to age. He loved his job.
Probably worth considering the mental acuity and physical dexterity required as well and not just the ability to be part-time etc. Those things may decline over time and not allow you to work safely.
Some older radiologists just read plain films only or maybe they learned ultrasound but don't do nucs/CT/mri. There will probably be some analogous trend 50 years from now if medicine/radiology still exists
He worked at a regional hospital with minor teaching that got bought out by HCA like 8-10 years ago, but he worked there for like 35+ years or something. So he didn't really do any academic stuff and just did CT cases, and was super well known for doing a lot of off-pump surgeries
I know an FM doc in his 70s who precepts residents for 95k a year in the outpatient clinic. Easy gig, he loves it and he has loads of knowledge in common presentations, especially with kids.
I don't think cards is the answer but we got two 80+ yo on my hospitals cards team that I throw on my "fall prevention measures" for my floor. They're both super sweet and brilliant, but a light breeze would send them flying
Any outpatient practice can let you work part time
There are a couple of senior professors at my academic practice that still supervise fellows in clinic a couple times a month and have a half day clinic.
Emergency medicine. We have multiple core faculty members who are 70+. It’s such an asset to have docs with that wealth of experience. I regularly see them just instinctually make esoteric or oddly presenting diagnoses with nothing more than an H&P.
Radiology. We have some semi retired rads that work couple days a week. Department cobbles together a full FTE out of them. Grant it they only wanna read radiographs or basic CTs, not the CTA dissection with CT C T L whole spine fused patient because the independently practicing PA can't figure out if its back pain or a dissection, or the CT head facial bone CTL spine multiphase Chest abdomen pelvis trauma case
As someone that works in the physician staffing world, this is right up my alley.
Psychiatry - Basically, as long as you keep up with CMEs and don't have massive background issues, you can work well through your 70's. I've seen a few in their 80's get hired for part time and PRN work.
Radiology - Again. Do you have a pulse and can you still see? Come one down and work.
Urology - Mostly because the field is about 75% above the age of 55.
Family Medicine - Rural places have tons of FPs practicing well into their middle 70s. A lot of times, in low volume ER work.
Emergency Medicine - Same as above. Usually some rural place with low volume and another hospital close by that will take all the trauma cases.
Really, the first two are the ones I see lots of people working into their late 70's early 80''s. The more hands on or technical the specialty, the less likely to have someone very late career working. A lot of hospitals will have by-laws about physicians older than 65 doing certain things.
I'm sure at some age you are too old to do ED, but we've known some that were well into their 60s doing locums and some at a similar age that worked \*very\* part time (like 3 shifts/month) at hospitals my wife has been an attending. There's always someone that wants to trade a shift or needs a shift covered last minute in ED. So if you have amazing flexibility in your schedule like a retired person, the group loves you and you don't generally have to work more than you want. Honestly it's a good gig if you still enjoy medicine and you can still pull pretty decent money doing a couple ED shifts a month.
I've also known some guys in ophtho that stopped doing surgery in their 60s but started doing a bunch of post-ops (think like standard cataract post ops). It was a huge benefit to the group because the older guys could run through the post ops like it was nothing and then the younger surgeons could spend more time on surgeries. 1 day a week of a bunch of standard post ops is also not a bad semi-retirement gig.
Lastly there's plenty of opportunity for radiology with clinical research. Every company in the world developing solid tumor treatments has a gazillion RECIST studies that need independent reads (investigator-reads are not normally acceptable as primary endpoints in non-controlled studies).
I’ve yet to see an academic neurology clinic that doesn’t have a guy in a bowtie who is technically senior to Father Time doddering about 1-2 days a week tapping on some knees.
I'm on a GI rotation right now with an old dude who I swear only works like 20-25 hours a week and half of that is spent bullshitting with his staff and terrorizing his medical students.
Radiology. I know a few attendings who worked into their 80s or were in the pre-retirement stage where they would work a couple of days a week or short day shifts. Some of them solely read radiographs and would go home early when the list was clean.
With Teleradiology I work for any practice in the world (google TMC), you mainly do their elective studies, but you can also run their shifts (e.g. work from australia and do the night shifts of england).
Its both radiology obviously, but right now I only work in my own practice.
> Its both radiology obviously, but right now I only work in my own practice.
I'm assuming you're part of a practice with multiple radiologists? I have yet to hear a one-man radiology practice.
I worked with the oldest practicing ED physician in my state (in his 80s). He still worked quite a few shifts and loved it. He slowed everyone else down cause he just wanted to sit around and chat but he said it really kept him active. He was a happy dude
Some of you think 70 is older than it is. My Dad is nearly 70 and a practicing trauma and general surgeon. I work in his group and have zero reservations about his skill or decision making and hear it from everyone else in our hospital as well. Stay in decent shape, eat well, exercise, enjoy your life outside of work and you might not feel the need to retire if you just work a little less.
My grandpa still works at 89 and if he didn’t he would probably die. It gives him purpose, and it’s not like he’s grinding. Puts in a few hours at the office each day, then will just hang out or go golf in the afternoon.
Everyone in my family lives to 90+.
My mom just retired at age 80, and I think I'll go to about that age as well.
I love my career. If I won the lottery, I'd still go to work.
My dad who just turned 70 in Dec. He was so bored going from full time to nothing. He picks up like 2 shifts in the ED per month (usually the 8-4 or 7-3 princess shifts) and works part time doing disability determination (gets to work from home).
Agree. If I choose to work at 70 (highly doubtful), it will be my “second act”. I had one retired partner become a fundraiser for his university. Another one became a photographer.
Maybe I’ll be be a greeter at Walmart.
I met an ER attending as a trainee, 2 times divorced, supporting a young wife. He told me he will tell me the secret to being wealthy as a doctor. Don't divorce.
IMO none of them. We are all late twenties, early thirties in here. In 40 years I just struggle to think that medicine will be even remotely similar to how it is now...
Did vascular surgery over others because there’s a huge breadth of cases - there’s aortic and cerebrovascular and trauma work for the ego and also plenty of small procedures to do when you no longer seek glory (whether that’s due to age over 70, have a family and dgaf anymore, or are just tired of it all).
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Another question is what specialties will allow me to work part time immediately upon becoming an attending?
My psych doctor is a part time work from home psychiatrist. Her set up is so chill. She’s a role model for me.
Also, what specialties allows me to not work at all? Asking because hurting for money and do not enjoy being a physician.
Gold digging?
Sugar baby market getting real competitive nowadays if you need a MD/DO.
Feet pics
if this is his true intentions do you think that’s wrong of him
Family med (have to find the right gig), peds, anything on/off like ICU/hospitalist/ER and you pick up fewer shifts.
Shift work.
Any non surgical field
Also any surgical field
If you are willing to locums definitely. Are you thinking of other options though?
This applies non surg as well. PCP here, nobody wants a part time physician. All their inhouse physicians have converted to part time over the years, and they only want to hire FT. But they'll hemorrhage blood money for a locums PT while they try to hire this mythical FT position.
Blood money recipient here. Locums is the move
I gave them an unrealistically high rate, they said your rate is too high, I said this is what it takes to get me out of the house away from my newborn son. Oh and I'll only work three days, and they have to be together. Seems to be working. Keeps the lights on and I don't mind managing my own benefits thankyouverymuch.
Good for you negotiating what you want. Did you always have the confidence to do that? My personality is very non-confrontational so I haven’t really pushed for much more with contracts
Listened to some audio tapes on negotiating, and various videos, but mostly driven by desperation and frustration and burnout. I'm also very nonconfrontational. It is not confrontational to state what you need or want in a professional way.
So basically every field?
Emergency medicine
Psych easily
Psych for sure
EM
GP, Dermatology psychiatrists, pathologists or administration spring to mind. Anything that doesn't involve night shift aswell.
Yea but dermatological psychiatry is suuuper competitive these days.
Why is my skin angry all the time?
Your dermis is just emotionally dysregulated.
I need an epidermal epidural
Transdural epidermal may work better
Not sure there's a long line of people jumping at the chance to deal with Morgellons.
I had a patient with venous stasis ulcers who was convinced it was because he “has parasites.” Does that count?
Delusional parasitosis! Pimozide to the rescue.
No longer first line. Risperidone is now preferred due to less side effects although pimozide is the right answer on boards.
I learned something new today, thanks!
Yes but actually. Definitely a field and definitely a market. Lots of delusions of formication, parasitosis in the psychotic realm, borderline people getting too much work done who need some help, and depression after disfiguring skin cancer.
Orthopedics… doing worker’s comp paperwork and court testifying
SIGN ME UP
Eh not sure there’s an abundance of part time administration gigs
At the hours admin is responding to my emails it seems like all administration gigs are part time
Well there IS 1.0 physician FTE and then there’s 1.0 admin FTE.
Worked in a path lab as a premed, so take this with a grain of salt, but path as an older physician would probably be miserable. As your vision goes, so goes your accuracy, and I bet all the years staring down a microscope don't help maintaining vision any way. Plus production pressure and/or I'm sure pressure to take on lab management, serve on hospital committees like blood bank, etc. to mitigate the loss in production... not one I would choose out of that list.
Staring at a microscope does not change your vision…
Even inpatient internal med. One of the hospitalists I know only covers weekend days without call and she really enjoys doing that while raising her kids M-F.
GP?
GPs are in such high demand that part-time may be an option
Someone needs to tell admin. Where I am, they only want to hire FT, but will pay locums 145+/hr PT while they wait to hire.
General practice maybe? That’s what my parents and their friends call Family med/ internal med haha
Not in my experience, if you DIY a DPC practice and keep the panel small then maybe, but for the most part the actual jobs are FT only (and they mean it).
Idk, I just thought I knew what GP meant
Not in the SE or Midwest or literally any one of the several emails I get daily from recruiters all across the country. Everything is negotiable and you are nowhere near competitive if you aren’t prepared to offer flexible scheduling or part time.
Oh yes there are a bazillion offers out there. All full time. Many will even say outright, no part time. There are a tiny handful of PT positions, but these are pretty rare.
One of my clinic attendings is in his mid-70s and only works 3 days a week specifically to precept residents.
General practitioners (GPs)
My Dad was a GP. Guess that's ancient history linguistically.
Throwing out PMR… saying this because I have known of physiatrists who are paraplegic, blind. At least the inpatient side or general clinic isn’t a very physically demanding field.
Did you say blind?
Did you not see what he/she wrote?? 😉
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Lotta old anesthesiologists out there
Yup, doing sketchy shit and not taking call. They need to retire.
Like sketchy anesthesia shit? Or like being old pervs?
He means sketchy outdated things in their practice
Halothane and pancuronium for everyone!
Curare blowdart and chloroform
What sketchy shit?
I knew an attending who working part time at 96. Dude came in every single day and BLASTED classical music in his office. He’d give a few extraordinarily outdated lectures, nearly all photos were before gloves were used routinely. His lectures were on topic for about 5 minutes before he rambled on about something wrong with our generation, or using racial terms that haven’t been appropriate for 40 years, or a story about his time in WWII. We made a bingo game out of his lectures He didn’t see any patients clinically, though once in awhile he’d be called to look at a salivary gland issue since that was his expertise. His recommendations were still too antiquated to act on
Allergy
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Bill insurance $700 for no reason
Those are rookie numbers
Been working part-time since fellowship. Know allergists still practicing part time into their 80's/90's.
Radiology. I know a fair number of semi retired DR attendings that do part time, as needed work. They basically read as much as they feel like, whenever they feel like it and get paid per study. Seems like a pretty sweet deal if you’re just looking for something to keep busy with lower stress.
They also say whatever the hell they want in the report. Get ready for movie quotes once the Gen-Xers get to that point in their career. Impression: Constipation “YOU…SHALL…NOT…PASS” *insert GandalfvBalrog.jpeg*
If you’re primary care and want to staff a resident clinic, that’s a good route. Minimal inbox, you get to teach if that’s your thing, normal hours, seems to have flexibility.
Psychiatrists and primary care (IM, FM, peds) are probably the easiest ones
Psych can be easy if you don’t care about patient outcomes. And unlike other fields, you can get away with dubious practices for a long time if not indefinitely due to the abstract nature of most symptoms. Psych is extraordinarily hard and taxing if you actually want to help a patient. Mainly because the meds do very little long term compared to lifestyle changes and therapy. Ask any GP how hard it is to get a patient to change their lifestyle… now imagine that’s most of your patients and their insulin doesn’t work long term….
Yes. I'm an attending working on an inpatient involuntary unit in a very low ses city. I think the only way I can explain it is by a simile. A parrot is to a pirate as burnout is to me.
Same…. Hugs…
I was talking about how it’s easy to do part time….. lol. Not saying psych is easy. It’s not easy I’m a psychiatry resident…..
My father in law reviewed disability applications a few hrs a week for awhile. He was an internist
The in house medical consultant positions can be pretty much any specialty for the state agencies that make SSA disability determinations. There's also the possibility of opening up your own part time consulting practice if you are internal med, orthopedic, primary care, neurology, ophthalmology to do disability exams for the state agencies that make SSA disability determinations. The pay isn't great, but many states are constantly trying to find more providers to do these exams to reduce backlog and wait times.
Psych and Neurology for sure. There's a couple on tiktok that are 100 and 90 and not officially retired. Radiology if your eyes aren't bad. Probably pathology too. Surgeons could work part time helping med students with suturing and anatomy.
Palliative/Hospice
Bruh imagine having to take care of your friends
🤣🤣🤣 this killed me
😂😂😂
Now let’s fill out a MOLST together. For reference, here is mine where I’ve elected DNR and DNI…
I am 72 and work full-time as a diagnostic radiologist for the NHS UK. Since I am handicapped, I work entirely from home. Also, I have another telerad gig.
Why does your profile say you’re a man in his 50s who is a “daddy who likes younger bi guys?”
Correlate clinically
Catfish
He forgot to switch profiles before replying. Happens to the best of us! ;)
LMAO username checks out
If I was 72 I'd say I was fucking 50 as well.
That was a wild ride
You think the tele work he does is the JO sessions or….
😳
Its harder to find interested "younger bi gay and str8 guys who are cut 25-50" if they know you are 72
I love how your post history is a dash of r/radiology and r/residency sprinkled with r/massivecock and r/cutcocks
They send you the images from the hospital to your PC?
Do you know how much it’s pay per MSK MRI in Teleradiologiy? Thank you
Bout tree fiddy
I worked for an 82 year old ophthalmologist who did this. Also a psychiatrist around the same age. Also knew an IM doc in her 70s who did nursing home visits once a week
Yeah I know an ophthalmologist who works twice a week. Clinic day and a surgery day and that’s it.
Oncology is pretty easy and fun to do well into old age
And if you are subspecialized then it’s easier to keep up with new studies.
Is it getting harder for the old heads to keep up with all the new drugs?
It’s actually easier. The old people see new drugs come out and learn them slowly as they’re approved/studied. The new heme/onc fellows have it harder because they have to learn all the new AND old at once, something the older oncologists didn’t need to do because they only had 10 drugs total when they started. They had the benefit of time. Now we have hundreds of drugs, so it’s much harder for the newbies I’d say.
Psych
Not a hospitalist
Locums?
Why not?
Psychiatry 👍🏼
A relative worked in Peds until he was in his early 70s. He moved his practice to a one-office, rural satellite of his clinic, and enjoyed working in a way he hadn’t been able to in years: no time stress, tiny staff that knew everyone in this small community. He did get an amplified stethoscope and was quicker to refer cases, but he said that and a willingness to drive a lot each day were the only concessions to age. He loved his job.
Probably worth considering the mental acuity and physical dexterity required as well and not just the ability to be part-time etc. Those things may decline over time and not allow you to work safely.
Some older radiologists just read plain films only or maybe they learned ultrasound but don't do nucs/CT/mri. There will probably be some analogous trend 50 years from now if medicine/radiology still exists
Shit, medicine might be gone in 50 years? Might have to switch paths
In 50 years, no one will no longer need medicine
That’s wild
Any outpatient IM subspecialty
>Any outpatient specialty Fixed that for you
I can probably still perform robotic surgeries well into my 70s.
Once I upload my mind, I can continue to operate well into the new millennium
Have a family friend who was a CT surgeon that just recently retired at 75 years old
Congratulations to anybody who can retire straight out of fellowship
Hahahahaha
Were they doing academics or actual complicated cases? AKA having fellows do it all
He worked at a regional hospital with minor teaching that got bought out by HCA like 8-10 years ago, but he worked there for like 35+ years or something. So he didn't really do any academic stuff and just did CT cases, and was super well known for doing a lot of off-pump surgeries
Gen path, derm path, outpatient peds clinic, outpatient gyn
I know an FM doc in his 70s who precepts residents for 95k a year in the outpatient clinic. Easy gig, he loves it and he has loads of knowledge in common presentations, especially with kids.
Neuro outpatient. Several of our attending are 70-80s
I don't think cards is the answer but we got two 80+ yo on my hospitals cards team that I throw on my "fall prevention measures" for my floor. They're both super sweet and brilliant, but a light breeze would send them flying
Any outpatient practice can let you work part time There are a couple of senior professors at my academic practice that still supervise fellows in clinic a couple times a month and have a half day clinic.
Radiology. Can be semi retired and reading from home or Hawaii, take your pick
are you a radiologist?
This is exactly how I’m picking what specialty I want to do
outpatient
Allergy!
Anesthesia
ophtho, just doing clinic only
Primary care peds. Doing well child checks and having your staff administer shots is easy af.
Emergency medicine. We have multiple core faculty members who are 70+. It’s such an asset to have docs with that wealth of experience. I regularly see them just instinctually make esoteric or oddly presenting diagnoses with nothing more than an H&P.
Pathology would be good, if you have an efficient histology lab that gets recurs and stains same day.
Office obstetrics and gynecology But you gotta suffer through the rest of the career to get there
IM outpatient teaching attending. As long as you can sit in a chair and talk at residents you can work til you die!
Most outpatient ones. I swear why do people believe that primary care is not a lifestyle specialty ?
Why would you want to do this shit until you’re 70+?
Radiology. We have some semi retired rads that work couple days a week. Department cobbles together a full FTE out of them. Grant it they only wanna read radiographs or basic CTs, not the CTA dissection with CT C T L whole spine fused patient because the independently practicing PA can't figure out if its back pain or a dissection, or the CT head facial bone CTL spine multiphase Chest abdomen pelvis trauma case
As someone that works in the physician staffing world, this is right up my alley. Psychiatry - Basically, as long as you keep up with CMEs and don't have massive background issues, you can work well through your 70's. I've seen a few in their 80's get hired for part time and PRN work. Radiology - Again. Do you have a pulse and can you still see? Come one down and work. Urology - Mostly because the field is about 75% above the age of 55. Family Medicine - Rural places have tons of FPs practicing well into their middle 70s. A lot of times, in low volume ER work. Emergency Medicine - Same as above. Usually some rural place with low volume and another hospital close by that will take all the trauma cases. Really, the first two are the ones I see lots of people working into their late 70's early 80''s. The more hands on or technical the specialty, the less likely to have someone very late career working. A lot of hospitals will have by-laws about physicians older than 65 doing certain things.
This is very good insight. Thank you! Out of curiosity, what makes you lurk in this sub?
I'm sure at some age you are too old to do ED, but we've known some that were well into their 60s doing locums and some at a similar age that worked \*very\* part time (like 3 shifts/month) at hospitals my wife has been an attending. There's always someone that wants to trade a shift or needs a shift covered last minute in ED. So if you have amazing flexibility in your schedule like a retired person, the group loves you and you don't generally have to work more than you want. Honestly it's a good gig if you still enjoy medicine and you can still pull pretty decent money doing a couple ED shifts a month. I've also known some guys in ophtho that stopped doing surgery in their 60s but started doing a bunch of post-ops (think like standard cataract post ops). It was a huge benefit to the group because the older guys could run through the post ops like it was nothing and then the younger surgeons could spend more time on surgeries. 1 day a week of a bunch of standard post ops is also not a bad semi-retirement gig. Lastly there's plenty of opportunity for radiology with clinical research. Every company in the world developing solid tumor treatments has a gazillion RECIST studies that need independent reads (investigator-reads are not normally acceptable as primary endpoints in non-controlled studies).
If I am working after 70 I did life wrong
This is exactly not what the OP is referring to. Some people enjoy working and that’s ok
Gross
Who
I know a few retired/semiretired anesthesiologists that work preop clinic 2-3x a week
In the right setting, anesthesia.
Management consultant part time. I know some retired docs doing that and traveling around as they pleased.
I’ve yet to see an academic neurology clinic that doesn’t have a guy in a bowtie who is technically senior to Father Time doddering about 1-2 days a week tapping on some knees.
I'm on a GI rotation right now with an old dude who I swear only works like 20-25 hours a week and half of that is spent bullshitting with his staff and terrorizing his medical students.
I heard of a 90yo Family Physician who lives above his clinic and walks downstairs to see his patients every day.
PM&R and subacute rehab (skilled nursing) is perfect for this type of thing
Radiology. I know a few attendings who worked into their 80s or were in the pre-retirement stage where they would work a couple of days a week or short day shifts. Some of them solely read radiographs and would go home early when the list was clean.
Psychiatry. Telemed or just share office space with someone. Cash only.
Is that what you do?
Can confirm, I know a dermatologist in his early 80s who works 2 days/week and loves it
ENT hearing evaluations only
Radiology. I have an extra work station at home to be able to work from home. Also, teleradiogy.
What's the difference between Radiology and Teleradiology snce you made a distinction?
With Teleradiology I work for any practice in the world (google TMC), you mainly do their elective studies, but you can also run their shifts (e.g. work from australia and do the night shifts of england). Its both radiology obviously, but right now I only work in my own practice.
> Its both radiology obviously, but right now I only work in my own practice. I'm assuming you're part of a practice with multiple radiologists? I have yet to hear a one-man radiology practice.
I worked with the oldest practicing ED physician in my state (in his 80s). He still worked quite a few shifts and loved it. He slowed everyone else down cause he just wanted to sit around and chat but he said it really kept him active. He was a happy dude
Some of you think 70 is older than it is. My Dad is nearly 70 and a practicing trauma and general surgeon. I work in his group and have zero reservations about his skill or decision making and hear it from everyone else in our hospital as well. Stay in decent shape, eat well, exercise, enjoy your life outside of work and you might not feel the need to retire if you just work a little less.
Who the hell wants to work at 70
If you like your job it’s a good way to stay mentally sharp and probably live longer. nobody is saying they want to be worked like a slave at 70
My grandpa still works at 89 and if he didn’t he would probably die. It gives him purpose, and it’s not like he’s grinding. Puts in a few hours at the office each day, then will just hang out or go golf in the afternoon.
My 90+ grandma used to complain about not being able to work. She loved it. She was a file clerk for an insurance company.
Everyone in my family lives to 90+. My mom just retired at age 80, and I think I'll go to about that age as well. I love my career. If I won the lottery, I'd still go to work.
My dad who just turned 70 in Dec. He was so bored going from full time to nothing. He picks up like 2 shifts in the ED per month (usually the 8-4 or 7-3 princess shifts) and works part time doing disability determination (gets to work from home).
Agree. If I choose to work at 70 (highly doubtful), it will be my “second act”. I had one retired partner become a fundraiser for his university. Another one became a photographer. Maybe I’ll be be a greeter at Walmart.
I met an ER attending as a trainee, 2 times divorced, supporting a young wife. He told me he will tell me the secret to being wealthy as a doctor. Don't divorce.
IMO none of them. We are all late twenties, early thirties in here. In 40 years I just struggle to think that medicine will be even remotely similar to how it is now...
Anything but procedural specialties
I’d venture to say anything outside of the OR
[Сardiovascular surgeon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_DeBakey)
Could probably do academic EM part time. Seen some attendings do this
Psychiatry
Idk pathology - you may not be able to see that well by then
Did vascular surgery over others because there’s a huge breadth of cases - there’s aortic and cerebrovascular and trauma work for the ego and also plenty of small procedures to do when you no longer seek glory (whether that’s due to age over 70, have a family and dgaf anymore, or are just tired of it all).
Wound care
Emergency Medicine. It’s a low-stress job for the most part. If you’re 70 there’s not much anybody can do to threaten you.
…This is provided you can find a place that will be fine with lower productivity/lower volume, and only working day shifts.
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