![]() ![]() “We don’t have many clients who have only ‘half’ a need, but many are having to accommodate part-time or flexible-practice now,” observed Tommy Bohannon, vice president of hospital-based recruiting for Merritt Hawkins in Irving, Texas. Many groups - especially in primary care - are making such adjustments despite physician shortages. “It’s one of the reasons we’ve been able to recruit many doctors right out of residency - we make it an option for them to have some flexibility,” she said. Several Duluth Clinic-Spooner physicians at both ends of the career spectrum now practice part time, and the group has developed a reputation for its family-friendly culture. “Now, even some of the older, hardcore doctors are saying, ‘I want that now - some quality time at home.’ ” Boehlke-Bray, now section chair of the group. “We went through a time when some of the physicians were critical, but that’s changed,” said Dr. Today, Duluth Clinic-Spooner in rural northern Wisconsin has evolved into a practice that not only accommodates but welcomes part-time physicians. “But after I interviewed with three different groups, only one was receptive.” “I was married to a physician, and I realized that the two of us couldn’t practice full time and have a family,” she recalls. Laura Boehlke-Bray, MD, a Wisconsin family physician, found only one group, Duluth Clinic, in the Minnesota-based SMDC Health System, willing to consider her request for part-time practice 15 years ago. ![]() Thirty percent (30%) of respondents who indicated they would modify their practice within three years planned to either cut back on patient panels or switch to part time.įor the majority of part-time practicing physicians, the decision to cut back is driven by family considerations, primarily a desire to ensure they have time to spend with their children - and their spouses. In 2009, 61% of physicians, the vast majority of them men, were age 44 or older and 51% were male, compared with 58% in 1997.Ī 2008 survey by The Physicians Foundation in Boston that included nearly 12,000 physicians underlines the changing landscape. ![]() Louis, Missouri, recruiting firm Cejka Search, citing recent American Medical Association data. But can develop flexible practice arrangements that appeal to the two fastest-growing segments,” said Lori Schutte, president of the St. “You cannot control the economy or the demographic trends that are quickly changing the face of medicine. This data suggests that the old stereotype of the hard-driving, perennially exhausted physician who always puts patient concerns before personal ones, spending little time with family, is waning. And among those part-time physicians, the fastest growing segments are men approaching retirement age and women in early to mid-career. Part-time physicians now make up 21% of the workforce, compared with 13% in 2005, the recent Cejka Search/American Medical Group Management Retention Survey found. These days, however, an increasing number of physicians are doing just that. Most physicians don’t go to medical school and endure the rigors of residency with the intention of only working part time when they get into practice. ![]() Once viewed as either untenable or undesirable, part-time and flex-time arrangements are becoming more common.īy Bonnie Darves, a Seattle-based freelance health care writer Part-time practice usually entails more hours than physicians might have anticipated. They also are not immune from the clinical and administrative burdens associated with full-time work. However, to foster collegiality, part-time physicians in an outpatient practice setting usually take full call. Two-physician families, younger physicians, and those with the retirement horizon in sight find flexible schedules a key factor in achieving work-family balance. Part-time or nontraditional schedules for physicians are gaining greater acceptance, particularly in primary care. Career resources content posted on NEJM CareerCenter is produced by freelance health care writers as an advertising service of NEJM Group, a division of the Massachusetts Medical Society and should not be construed as coming from, or representing the views of, the New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM Group, or the Massachusetts Medical Society ![]()
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