Despair and Hope at the 2018 SEAK Conference - 057

Oct 24, 2018

Welcome back to the PNC podcast.

My timetable for the podcast prep this week was a little compressed because I spent 2 days attending the 15th Annual SEAK Non-Clinical Careers for Physicians Conference. And that put me a little behind.

I recorded my observations during the conference, and I’m going to share those with you today.

I wouldn’t ordinarily spend an entire episode promoting a conference, which is what this might sound like. However, many of you have asked about the conference, and I believe it’ll be helpful to tell you more about it. Some of you may need a little more information to help you decide whether to attend next year.

To be clear, I have no affiliation with SEAK. And I registered and paid to attend just like everybody else.

But this is the only meeting of its kind that presents an overview of career options for physicians. The SEAK meeting has two other unique features.

• 30 to 40 physicians working in nonclinical careers, including career coaches, meet with attendees in 15-minute appointments to provide advice and answer questions about nonclinical options.
• A small number of employers interested in recruiting physicians to nonclinical jobs attend the conference to answer questions and set up interviews.

The SEAK staff confirmed that the conference continues to grow, with attendance easily exceeding last year’s. I estimated that there were well over 400 physicians at the meeting.

In addition to attending the individual sessions, and catching up with friends, it was fun to speak with physicians at the meeting, to hear their stories.

For example, I had a chance to chat with a physician while waiting for the first plenary session to begin. I’ll call him Robert to maintain his anonymity.

He appeared a bit somber, as he explained how he lost his license and had been unable to practice while involved in litigation to recover it.

His efforts were unsuccessful, so he decided to attend the meeting to learn about nonclinical careers he might pursue. Since I had attended last year’s meeting, I gave him advice to help him optimize his time at the meeting. I caught up with him later to see how things were going. I’ll describe his comments in a few minutes.

I was impressed by the enthusiasm and optimism that many of the attendees expressed by the end of the meeting.

At lunch on Sunday, I spoke with three physicians who were all very hopeful. An anesthesiologist nearing retirement was intrigued with becoming an expert witness. He could slowly build such a career part time while winding down his clinical activities. The others at the table had identified several leads on careers they were going to evaluate further.

I spoke with a pediatric physiatrist at one of the breakout sessions. She was only a year into her clinical career. She found it unfulfilling and was considering several nonclinical alternatives.

I was also pleasantly surprised that three physicians recognized me and told me that they enjoyed this podcast. That really helps motivate me to continue. They also gave me helpful feedback and ideas for future episodes.

I ran into “Robert” several times during the conference, and each time he seemed very positive and more optimistic. When I asked him how things were going, he responded “fantastic” with a big smile on his face.

There were too many take-aways to list them all, but a few stood out for me.

• The presenters and mentors all expressed a great deal of hope and optimism.
• In just 2 days, we heard about more than 25 potential nonclinical careers or part-time jobs.
• Many presenters emphasized the importance of networking when pursuing a new position.
• Several also mentioned the importance of maintaining a complete, professional-looking LinkedIn profile.
• Pharmaceutical companies have multiple categories of nonclinical career opportunities – with variations in desired educational background, travel requirements, and ability to work from home.
• Consulting, medical writing, and work as a medical science liaison are definite possibilities if you’re a foreign medical graduate or are not residency trained or board certified.
• Utilization reviewers are needed by hospitals, Independent Review Organizations and Health Insurers, and previous experience is often not required.
• Telemedicine can be a great job to meet your needs if you prefer to work at home, or as a bridge during your transition from clinical to nonclinical work.
• There is a growing demand for medical directors and chief medical officers in the field of hospital and health system Quality Improvement.

I could go on, but you get the idea. There is an ever-expanding need for physicians willing and able to take on these and many other nonclinical careers.

Attending the SEAK Annual Conference is one way to learn about those careers, while obtaining mentoring and exploring employment opportunities.

Ths show notes can be foudn at https://vitalpe.net/episode057