Editor’s Choice: Is the grass any greener?

Contract changes, rising workloads, staffing pressures, stagnant pay, increasing regulation, and political interference have all played their part in causing more doctors to talk about quitting the profession in recent months.

There are those who have daydreamed for years about pursuing ambitions outside medicine, others may have looked online for information about options in other professions, and some may have already begun training in other areas.

But given the years spent training and developing a career in medicine, leaving is not a decision to be taken lightly and doctors need to be clear about what they will be gaining and what they will be losing. This week Kathy Oxtoby looks at the different factors that doctors need to consider if they are thinking about leaving medicine (p xxx).

One is whether the option to return to the profession can be left open. Simon Clark says that doctors need to think about whether quitting medicine will be a “one way trip” because it can be difficult to return to the profession. “Medicine moves on at a dramatic pace,” he says. “If you return after time out you may find a huge amount has changed. It can be hard to get up to speed with new procedures.”

Another consideration is whether a period of short term stress is being allowed to have undue influence over choices that have been built and honed over many years. Mala Rao comments, “Having a successful alternative career is only likely to happen after careful consideration—and a hasty decision to leave medicine is truly unwise.”