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Welp, that's a wrap. I am leaving medicine.


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I had a decent career.  Too much to go into, while not perfect I did save a lot of lives along the way.  I raised a family which allowed my wife to stay home with the kids and we never went hungry.  Overall I had a good run.  Over the last few years I have struggled mightily with the direction our profession has chosen to take.  PA leadership has embraced the "assistant/associate" mentality instead of taking our last best chance at relevancy by calling ourselves what we actually are: Medical Practitioners.  We had every opportunity to embrace it, but after a million bucks and a reputable consulting agencies' hard recommendation to go "Medical Care Practitioners".....PA leadership said no.  They essentially walked away from reality, clinging onto some bygone days when we had the job market to ourselves.  The real gut punch was PAFT.  I really saw them as having a next gen vision for the profession...and then the infamous letter stating that the consultants got it wrong...then the subsequent reversal.  It was just awful and the organization will never be respected again.  Which is sad because I think Scott who posts here (previous PAFT president) gets it.  He understands just how much danger our profession is in.  

Either way, I give up.  I signed an offer letter today taking a non clinical job making less money but I will not be seeing patients.  It's a govt job so the benefits are great even with the lower salary.  My wife and I had a long talk last night and she essentially begged me to give up clinical medicine.  I'm not going to lie, after taking care of people for almost 3 decades she has had a front row seat to the anxiety, depression and all consuming pressure being a health care provider exacts on a person.  She said she just can't watch it tear out the last pieces of me, and to please leave it behind us.  That was enough to get me over the line.  Lots of tears and memories are what's left.  I will still post here, but from what I would I guess call an outsiders point of view.

I wish all of you and us, nothing but the very best in the days to come.

 

Good luck to us all.

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I think many people change careers throughout their lives as their perspectives and situations change. Not to mention the inexorable changes in the outside world. There is sometimes a tendency to be bitter about it, or to judge oneself on the basis of one's year-over-year income change. I hope you don't do that but instead are motivated by trying something new.

You have supported your family, saved lives, and experienced a lot. Perhaps it would be best to just be happy that you got to here and that you have decided to make some changes for the next stage of your life. 

My best wishes as you move on. As to the career you left, it will be in the hands of the next generation and the continuing winds of change that come from all directions.

Edited by UGoLong
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peace.

 

I feel you

 

Trying one more job in another state (different practice, different state, different hospital system)   if this one sucks the life out of me, well then I don't know.....      I did see this job the other day.... 

Location:  AK ( Far west AK- one of the last islands in the Bering Sea)
-Assignment Duration: exact dates TBD- estimate(Nov-Jan)
-Duties: Standard primary care/outpatient services --- treating primarily adults; military personnel and their families
-Patient Census: very low; 1-2 patients per day
- Another mid level along with 2 paramedics will be on the island
-Full travel, lodging, and meals provided
-Pay rate: $450/day --- clinician will be paid for every day while on assignment, even for days not working
 
 
or this one - which emotionally might be hard, but would be a cake walk.....

 

Job Description 
Cremation View Specialist - (2100068E)

 

Description
 

The cremation view specialist performs a vital role for the OCME conducting views of decedents scheduled for cremation or burial at sea. The views are conducted in accordance with MGL Chapter 38 section 14 and primarily involve non medicolegal deaths of natural cause.  The cremation view specialist will view the decedent and review the associated required documentation. Documentation will be reviewed for content, and accuracy required to authorize the cremation.  Cremations may require further investigation and will require the cremation view specialist to review medical records, interact with medical providers, facility staff, law enforcement, and family of the deceased.  Views will involve direct visualization and inspection of human remains.  All views will be conducted in the field at external facilities such as, crematories, funeral homes and health care facilities.  On a daily basis the cremation view specialist will be handling, viewing, and photographing human remains.  The role will involve driving between 50 and 150 miles per day, and will include the use of an agency vehicle for these purposes. Specific job description is as follows:

 

1.  Ensure all documents required to authorize the cremation or burial at sea are present and reviewed for accuracy. 

2.  Perform view of body in accordance with CME 301 Cremation Authorization. 3.  Complete authorization form when view has been performed and cremation or burial at sea as deemed appropriate.  

4.  Enter the completion of all views performed in the designated OCME cremation case management system. 

5.  Submit all documents associated with the case as required.

 

Preferred Qualifications:

Associate’s Degree or higher. Ability to read and comprehend medical and technical reports, audits, and evaluations. Must have the ability to communicate effectively case narratives and write clear and comprehensive reports, and correspondence.  Must be able to work independently and possess good organizational skills and demonstrate appropriate time management.  Excellent inter-personnel skills are required to develop collaborative working relationships with OCME staff and OCME stakeholders.

Must possess a valid Massachusetts Driver’s License. Offers will be made only after a thorough driving record and background check is performed.

Must be able to maneuver deceased remains.

B. Experience Necessary

Experience in the medical field with experience in patient care, physical examination, or work related experience with the critically ill or terminally ill preferred.

Work Location:  Looking to fill position for route in Springfield/Berkshire.

 

 

 

Qualifications
 

MINIMUM ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS:

 

Applicants must have at least (A) four (4) years of full-time or, equivalent part-time, professional, professional internship, administrative, supervisory, or managerial experience in: business administration, business management, public administration, public management, clinical administration or clinical management or (B) any equivalent combination of the required experience and substitutions below.

 

Substitutions:

 

I. A certificate in a relevant or related field may be substituted for one (1) year of the required experience.

 

II. An Associate’s degree in a related field may be substituted for one (1) year of the required experience.

 

III. A Bachelor’s degree in a related field may be substituted for two (2) years of the required experience.

 

IV. A Graduate degree in a related field may be substituted for three (3) years of the required experience.

 

V. A Doctorate degree in a related field may be substituted for the required experience.

 

An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer.  Females, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. 

 
Official Title: Program Manager III

Primary Location

: United States-Massachusetts-Westfield-178 East Mountain Rd

Job

: Administrative Services

Agency

: Chief Medical Examiner

Schedule

: Full-time

Shift

: Day

Job Posting

: Jul 22, 2021, 11:45:17 AM

Number of Openings

: 1

Salary

: 32,685.64 - 89,649.39 Yearly
If you have Diversity, Affirmative Action or Equal Employment Opportunity questions or need a Reasonable Accommodation, please contact Diversity Officer / ADA Coordinator: Kristine Cavicchi - 857-377-2228
Bargaining Unit: M99-Managers (EXE)
Confidential: Yes
 
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Congrats!! I left two years ago.  I was worried sick that I had made the wrong decision.  Massive pay cut slightly weird hours but I just had enough of patients insurance and liability.  My DEA is due to renew this month.  Feels weird not doing it😏.   It will feel very strange in the beginning but you be happier in the long run.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

I must admit, sharing your experience with us is food for thought for a Pre-PA person like me. 

I was a Catholic priest for 17 years and left the profession because of burnout (we had to be marriage counselors, administrators, spiritual guides, and "politicians" of a sort, all in one, and had to always smile and had no family or support person beside/behind us). I chose to pursue the PA profession because, among many reasons, I was under the impression that the administration and "political" parts were not included. I still hope this is true.

Sometimes the grass seems greener, but reality is: we are the same cows eating the same weeds. I wonder how much is setting personal boundaries and staying out of politics. I don't mean to diminish the significance of your experience or decision. I just wonder for the benefit of other pre-PAs if the future of the profession is a matter of setting the right expectations: You will be challenged by others in your provider role. You will have a lot of work to do, especially the better you become. And your salary will not be commensurate with the kind of work you do. Is this accurate?

I think the fact that you made this decision with your spouse is very important and exemplary!

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To quote Erma Bombeck (for those old enough to remember) the grass is always greenest over the septic tank.

Our personal currency changes as time goes by. I am trying as hard as I can to make another 4.5 years in my current job so I can retire (but not necessarily stop working) but things have changed so much...so fast...in the 6 months I have been here some days I wonder if I can make it without losing my mind...today being one of those days.

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3 hours ago, billdwebster said:

I must admit, sharing your experience with us is food for thought for a Pre-PA person like me. 

I was a Catholic priest for 17 years and left the profession because of burnout (we had to be marriage counselors, administrators, spiritual guides, and "politicians" of a sort, all in one, and had to always smile and had no family or support person beside/behind us). I chose to pursue the PA profession because, among many reasons, I was under the impression that the administration and "political" parts were not included. I still hope this is true.

Have you connected with cathmed.org yet? There are likely a number of folks there who could help you with the transition...

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I resigned two months ago, only been in practice for 5 years. Will be going into education full time and may consider per diem urgent care, etc. Family medicine was nice at the start but with increasing patient needs and continued lack of respect around masks/vaccines (been threatened multiple times over the COVID vax), it's time to care of me.

I feel like my life has started to pass me by due to medicine. I just recently saw my niece for the first time since 2019. Granted the pandemic and physical distance played a role, but I couldn't help but wonder, is this what normal is? Both my fiance and I work in medicine as PAs, pulling 50-60+ hours a week, barely time to clean the house, exercise, live our lives. We keep asking ourselves, is this normal? No. It's not. My life (And yours too) is too valuable and so is my health.

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I came to medicine after 29 years in corporate america, with partially overlapping time in the fire service and teaching at the university level.  Each organization had its own politics, with many of the same issues.  Any organization thinks first of self-preservation, and most leaders within the organization buy in to the organization's world view as the only correct one and then try to advance themselves by playing by the local version of the rules.  I've found medicine to be no different.  Large medical staffing companies are no different than other corporations in how they act.  Large non-profit hospital systems that call their sub-organizations "ministries" are no different than other corporations.  Smaller organizations seem to have less issues, but the effect of individuals is larger.

We're all people, so this is hardly surprising.

The best path I've found is to find a place whose culture, values, and lifestyle match yours.  That answer will be different for different folks.

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1 hour ago, ohiovolffemtp said:

The best path I've found is to find a place whose culture, values, and lifestyle match yours.  That answer will be different for different folks.

I find this to be true.  With the wife still working and me being at home, I find that I disagree and argue a lot less with my company during the day.

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3 hours ago, ohiovolffemtp said:

Large non-profit hospital systems that call their sub-organizations "ministries" are no different than other corporations

Preach! I worked for a huge faith based system and they would preach holy while they were killing the staff. My favorite part was on paydays when they presented to opportunity to donate to their favorite charity.... themselves. The giant brass coconuts it took to work someone to death and then ask them to donate money back....

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6 hours ago, ohiovolffemtp said:

I came to medicine after 29 years in corporate america, with partially overlapping time in the fire service and teaching at the university level.  Each organization had its own politics, with many of the same issues.  Any organization thinks first of self-preservation, and most leaders within the organization buy in to the organization's world view as the only correct one and then try to advance themselves by playing by the local version of the rules.  I've found medicine to be no different.  Large medical staffing companies are no different than other corporations in how they act.  Large non-profit hospital systems that call their sub-organizations "ministries" are no different than other corporations.  Smaller organizations seem to have less issues, but the effect of individuals is larger.

We're all people, so this is hardly surprising.

The best path I've found is to find a place whose culture, values, and lifestyle match yours.  That answer will be different for different folks.

I found my "Safe Space" in the oilfields of Alaska doing Occ Med/Emergency Med! It took me 25 years of PA practice to find it but I never stopped looking (especially over my shoulder for Suits or their physician lap dogs trying to back stab me!)!

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2 hours ago, sas5814 said:

Preach! I worked for a huge faith based system and they would preach holy while they were killing the staff. My favorite part was on paydays when they presented to opportunity to donate to their favorite charity.... themselves. The giant brass coconuts it took to work someone to death and then ask them to donate money back....

My former long term employer as the gall to send me emails soliciting me to add them as benefactors of my estate!!

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On 8/26/2021 at 9:47 PM, Cideous said:

I had a decent career.  Too much to go into, while not perfect I did save a lot of lives along the way.  I raised a family which allowed my wife to stay home with the kids and we never went hungry.  Overall I had a good run.  Over the last few years I have struggled mightily with the direction our profession has chosen to take.  PA leadership has embraced the "assistant/associate" mentality instead of taking our last best chance at relevancy by calling ourselves what we actually are: Medical Practitioners.  We had every opportunity to embrace it, but after a million bucks and a reputable consulting agencies' hard recommendation to go "Medical Care Practitioners".....PA leadership said no.  They essentially walked away from reality, clinging onto some bygone days when we had the job market to ourselves.  The real gut punch was PAFT.  I really saw them as having a next gen vision for the profession...and then the infamous letter stating that the consultants got it wrong...then the subsequent reversal.  It was just awful and the organization will never be respected again.  Which is sad because I think Scott who posts here (previous PAFT president) gets it.  He understands just how much danger our profession is in.  

Either way, I give up.  I signed an offer letter today taking a non clinical job making less money but I will not be seeing patients.  It's a govt job so the benefits are great even with the lower salary.  My wife and I had a long talk last night and she essentially begged me to give up clinical medicine.  I'm not going to lie, after taking care of people for almost 3 decades she has had a front row seat to the anxiety, depression and all consuming pressure being a health care provider exacts on a person.  She said she just can't watch it tear out the last pieces of me, and to please leave it behind us.  That was enough to get me over the line.  Lots of tears and memories are what's left.  I will still post here, but from what I would I guess call an outsiders point of view.

I wish all of you and us, nothing but the very best in the days to come.

 

Good luck to us all.

Spot on with our problems. I’ve often felt you were hyperbolic, but not today and I’ve never disagreed with your concerns. Thanks for standing up for 30 years for the profession in the face of Stockholm syndrome and surviving the never ending line of patients. Hope I can do it for that long. Good luck!

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  • 1 month later...

A quick update:

 

1.  I make a lot less money then I use to....

2.  I am much happier then I use to be...

3.  Last weekend my wife asked me, "have you worried about patients this weekend?"...I said nope.

4.  I am still very involved in medicine as I investigate F'ed up clinics across the state.  I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly over the last few months and I now have the teeth to bring them into state compliance.

 

Just a final note, there is life after being a provider if you wish it.

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9 hours ago, Cideous said:

 

 

Just a final note, there is life after being a provider if you wish it.

great to hear

 

I am giving it one more try at a new practice in a different state (still an easy daily drive for me as I live on the border)

 

If it does not work I am looking for  a state job that is not a provider - maybe a college professor or my favorite one was driving around for the state mortitian taking photos and documenting deaths.   peacful, quiet, no conflict and my patients are dead so easy 🙂

 

please keep us updated!

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