Burnout: Why I Quit my 6 Figure Job

Burnout: A Sad Statistics for All Ophthalmologists

Over 50-80% of ophthalmologist will quit their first job within 3 years. Seriously. Think about it. I have met so many doctors who HATE their job. Burnout plays a big role.

From medical school, residency, fellowship – you always hear about “it’s gonna get better on the other side.” And I am going to tell you something. If you pick the wrong type of job, you are going to be miserable. I think the most important thing that every doctor needs to do is to find the right fit and be happy.

In residency, I was only told about really 3 main types of jobs for ophthalmologists.

#1 You have academia

#2 You have private practice

#3 You have large groups like Kaiser.

But I am gonna tell you about that one last option – being a solo doctor

There is nothing like being your own boss and working for yourself.

A Corporate Job Led to Burnout

After years of residency and following orders, I realized that old job was in many regards residency 2.0.I think the hardest part in residency wasn’t the hours.

It was the lack of control. The lack of autonomy is a huge factor in leading to burnout. Everything was dictated for you. And, a large corporate job is similar to that. If you didn’t want to work Saturday clinic, well, tough. I can’t even begin to tell you how much dumping there was. In one case, there was a senior partner who was on the way out so I was forced to see his post-op. To be clear, I have no issues seeing post-ops, but the operating surgeon was still present. As the junior doctor, you are unfortunately are where the senior partners will dump their troubles on.

And let’s not talk about the inefficiency and slow response time. Every decision takes so much time, and that wasn’t for me. Even requesting vacation time was a chore.

Consequently, when I was assessing to see if I was personally happy or loved my job, I could only say “I mean, its not that bad.” And in my opinion, that is such a poor outlook to spend 30 years at.

Taking Control Helped Me Find My Passion in Medicine Again

As a solo provider, I can do my own thing. I decide WHO to work with, WHAT equipment to work with, WHEN to see patients. I can craft my practice the WAY I want to. It’s kinda of refreshing finally being your on boss. Even though there is definitely more hats to wear now, I love it. All of my efforts are building up my practice.

With mental health is such a big topic, I can honestly say, “man I am really really happy.” I think that re-energizes me to do what all doctors strive for: Take really good care of patients. It’s simple really. Focus on patients.

Autonomy is OP: The Ability to Control Your Clinic is The Antidote to Burnout

In the Atlanta area, the Vietnamese community is underserved. As someone of Vietnamese heritage, I know I can really make a huge impact in the community.And I became a doctor to make a difference. I know you did too. If you open up your personal statement for medical school, I know everyone wrote about making a difference.

A solo practice is lean enough to pivot. For example in my case, taking care of the Vietnamese community often means a slower clinic. Everything takes a little longer to explain. My patients often have not had a proper discussion about what glaucoma, cataracts, or macular degeneration are. Consequently, so much of my time is spent on patient education. But the satisfaction of when patients finally understand their eye health is truly unmatched.

Imagine telling a corporation that you want to scale back (thus producing less) in order to spend more time per patients.

When I first started this solo practice, I was afraid that I was going to fail. There was no way that that I could survive by seeing so few patients. But looking at the numbers, the answer is clear – Solo can do way more than survive – Solo is thriving.

How? It’s all about the overhead.

What’s Next:

In the next post, I’m gonna go over overhead, and how staying lean can help me break even in 4 short months.

Questions, Concerns: Please Post Below!