Locum Family Medicine and the Transition to Retirement

When you consider the tremendous investment of time and money it takes just to become a family medicine practitioner, you realize how demanding a medical career can be. Add 20 to 30 years of daily practice and the doctor approaching retirement is suddenly faced with the realization that medicine has consumed his or her life for decades. What then?

American Medical Association Senior news writer Andis Robeznieks hit the nail on the head with a recent article entitled “Why retirement can be a physician’s toughest test yet“. He used his article to explain how retiring from a clinical position requires both financial and mental preparation.

For some, that preparation is found in locum tenens family medicine. Leaving traditional practice in favor of locum work gives the retiring clinician an opportunity to slowly wind things down. It is an option for doctors who would not do well working a full schedule right up until the last Friday on the job and then waking up Monday morning with nothing to do.

Financial Preparation

One would hope that a successful family medicine practitioner would work with a financial advisor to prepare for retirement. Under such a scenario, there would be very few financial concerns when retirement finally arrives. Yet that is not the way it always works.

Physicians are just like anyone else when it comes to financial management. Without an intentional effort to plan for the future, such plans are continually put on hold until it is too late. And even with plans in place, going from regular income to living off investments is not always easy.

Locum tenens work offers a transition. The retiring physician could, for example, take enough assignments to keep himself busy full time for that entire first year. All of the income previously supplied by regular practice would be replaced. The second year, he could take fewer assignments. Slowly, over several years of locum tenens work, he can get used to less regular income and more reliance on retirement income.

Mental Preparation

Some family medicine doctors find mental preparation more challenging than financial preparation. All of their financial ducks are in a row, but there really is nothing they can do to plan for the fact that retirement ultimately leads to a new way of thinking. Here is where locum tenens work proves so invaluable.

Imagine being ready for retirement yourself. As the day approaches, you begin wondering what you’re going to do with yourself. You know you cannot just sit around the house and do nothing. Yes, you have hobbies and interests. Can they keep you occupied all day, every day?

Once again, the retiring clinician can keep him/herself busy with a full schedule that first year as a locum. Even six months could be enough. After that, fewer assignments are taken. He or she slowly weans off from full-time work down to no work at all. It is a gradual approach that makes for a smoother transition.

Something to Think About

Locum tenens work is obviously not right for everyone. However, it has worked wonders for scores of family medicine clinicians looking to close out their careers. Locum tenens gave them the opportunity to slowly transition into retirement rather than going cold turkey.

If you have ever considered locum tenens family medicine yourself, there certainly is no shortage of opportunity. Take some time to research. Talk to other locums and get their thoughts. You might even contact a few staffing agencies for answers to specific questions. It might be that locum tenens is the right way for you to transition to retirement.