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Took the next step in the job transition!

June 27th, 2017 at 02:45 am

I gave notice at my practice last week. I'm going to stay on through September 30th. Beginning October 1st, I'll be working one job only at Urgent Care. I'm going to remain part time there (20 hours/week) and pick up per diem shifts on a regular basis. My goal will be a total of 32 hours/week (20 regular and 12 per diem).

Right now, my 20 hours is 8 hours on Tuesday, 4 hours on Thursday evening, and 8 hours on Saturday or Sunday depending on the week. Once I leave my office, I'll have Monday, Wednesday, Thursday day, and Friday available to grab per diem shifts. So that's 44 possible hours and I only want 12 of them. That should be no problem at all. And there are always weekend shifts to consider, too, on the weekends I'm not already working.

I have some preferences as to where and when I'd like to work but I realize that once I'm depending on the per diem shifts for my income, I'll need to be flexible and sometimes take what I can get. I'm okay with that.

I'm looking forward to not juggling two jobs anymore. I'm also looking forward to working 32 hours/week instead of now when I work a minimum of 43 and often more. This week I'm doing 47, for example. So that will be nice.

6 Responses to “Took the next step in the job transition!”

  1. Carol Says:
    1498563079

    Wow! That's a big change. Hope it goes well-- I expect it will.

  2. snafu Says:
    1498568630

    I'm surprised! Is this a 1st step towards retirement? After October 1st, you will have the option of working 20 hrs/wk as opposed to the 47 hrs you're committed to this week. I can't resist asking if the proposed new medical insurance changes played a role in what seems an accelerated plan. Are you on the leading edge of a change to population shifting medical care to an Urgent Care facility, dropping the connection with a family physician? While I've benefitted from all medical data easily transferred electronically between providers, I was surprised when recently, the home care nurse's unanticipated visit revealed she had reports o labf procedures done the previous day that allowed me to be released from hospital.

    As background I mention we were taken aback in China when we needed a couple of physician visits [all medical procedures are prepaid by patient before any service is rendered] . At 1st visit each person gets a medical card that resembles the CCs so familiar here. Every medical interaction is added so any provider can electronically access medical history. Each individual is held responsible for providing their card to the service provider, eliminating the typical patient's 'chart.' Even though we had a hard time understanding a lot of instruction, we got the immediate message that H- - - would break loose if we misplaced our individual medical data cards!

  3. ceejay74 Says:
    1498585064

    That's awesome, Steve -- congratulations!

  4. Dido Says:
    1498734384

    A big change--exciting for you! Congrats!

  5. disneysteve Says:
    1498740525


    It's not really about retirement. It's about how insane practicing medicine has become with overly demanding patients, inane insurance company and government regulations and requirements, and various other factors.

    I do think more and more people are using Urgent Care in lieu of a family doctor for episodic care (sick visits, minor injuries) which is leaving the family doctors like myself inundated with only the sickest, most complicated patients to care for. Doing that day in and day out is mentally and physically exhausting. Plus, those are the patients who require the most time but to be financially feasible, we need to get them in and out as quickly as possible. It isn't unusual for me to see 6 patients per hour so at best, I might spend 6-8 minutes with each patient when I really need 20-30 minutes to provide proper care. Something has to give somewhere.

    There are also issues specific to my practice (staffing, management, etc.) that have made this job more difficult than it needs to be. I've tried to address them over the years and just haven't succeeded. It's time to move on.

    The Urgent Care network I'm with is part of a large area hospital system that also has many outpatient practices including primary care so if, at some point, I find that Urgent Care isn't working out anymore, it shouldn't be difficult to find myself another position within the organization.

    As for working just 20 hours/week, there may be the occasional week that I would do that just for mental health, but it isn't something we can afford for me to do regularly.

  6. rob62521 Says:
    1498773146

    As you know, if you don't look out for yourself, no one else will. Glad you have found something that works and hope those per diem jobs aren't too weird on the scheduling.

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