It's Not Me, It's You

Sep 1, 2017   Print PDF

By Thomas A. Lerner | Related Practice: Health Care

This article originally appeared in the King County Medical Society Bulletin.

The romance of recruitment—especially early on in a career, can lead to employment decisions that a physician later regrets. The prospect of stability, an income that allows for a reasonable lifestyle while reducing debt, a professional environment that promises nurturing practice development and professional growth, and possible future partnership all can obscure signs that a practice environment may not be a good fit.

But after you pass the start-up period with its guaranteed salary, perhaps you are shocked by the bite that overhead takes out of your earnings, and maybe you want a more efficient practice. Or perhaps you have instead found that the prospective collaborative mentor turned out to be a controlling, Type A personality. The offices and equipment may look tired, and little effort made to grow patient lists. Rather than share the work, are other members of the practice protective and defensive because their income is precisely tied to their productivity? Is there no reinvestment in the practice, but instead are the physicians like miners, extracting
minerals and leaving waste? Or perhaps you are the one with greater ambition for the growth of your practice, and you find that your colleagues’ preference for a certain lifestyle has become a drag on the growth potential. Are they content with their lot, while you want to make more of yours?

None of these scenarios—or myriad other variations on them—mean that anyone is in the wrong. It does mean, however, that dissatisfaction and conflict are much more likely to occur. In the absence of the prospect of changes that are more harmonious with your objectives, you have decided it is time to move on.

Click here to read the full article.