OK, I've been out of practice for a few years now needing to take care of family and childrens' health issues. Now I need to get back into clinical practice for personal as well as financial reasons.

I made some inquiries in this small town about returning part-time (I do NOT want to work full-time again) at local hospitals with outpt clinics.

Seems like as soon as I mentioned PT, no one wants anything to do with me! I was kept waiting for weeks despite leaving voice messages and e-mail messages. I finally called and left messages about every 2 hours one day and finally got an e-mail by one that said I wasn't needed right now.

I understand I've been out of practice for some time and told recruiters that I would be willing and want to be mentored on my time for awhile until I was comfortably back on my feet.

I have kept my certification and license UTD and been doing CME work editing and authoring for a board review firm. I also tried to volunteer at the free clinic here but kids are no longer seen as new insurance laws have them mostly covered.

Don't think I can even do locums work because it has been too long.

Has anyone else out there gone through this experience or has had experience with locums companies?

Is there anything I can do to get back into practice short of moving to a bigger town? (Not realistic as my husband has a good nonmedical job here).

I had high hopes of this last possiblity working out and it finally fell through so now I don't know what to do and am feeling pretty discouraged. Any ideas, suggestions, shoulders out there would be appreciated. Thanks

Are there any bigger towns within driving distance?

No, guess it's just too late for me.

Are you living in the town you used to practice in? If so, do you have any contacts still in your area? Your best chance for landing a job in medicine is through word of mouth. You say you are a pediatrician. Perhaps you could volunteer your time to serve on committees in the local school district, most districts have a wellness or public health related committee. Or perhaps you could offer to give talks to school nurses on medical topics. These things will increase your visibility in the community as a physician. Best of luck. I know from experience that part time jobs are not generally listed with head hunter. Let us know how you make out.

I don't think it's too late, pastpedmd. As above, you may find out about a job through word of mouth, or something may open up there in the future, or things may settle down to the point that you can consider a full-time job. As you know, if your husband were willing to move, you would probably have more options in a bigger city, preferably one where people know you professionally. In this economy, that is obviously not an easy decision, but maybe there is hope of a good (or better) job for him in a place that would meet your needs better. It may get harder for you to go back to medicine as more time passes, but it is not impossible!

Locums.

Thanks you for the suggestions, but no, I do not live in the town I used to practice in. Stopped when we moved for a much awaited break from a busy HMO practice, so no real contacts here.

Husband and family would not be willing to move, he has good job he enjoys and pays pretty well but we'll have a second child in college in a couple of years and the first has expensive ongoing medical issues and I'd also like to feel useful and contribute more, I need to.

I think locums companies require a nonpractice gap of no more than 2 years, at least the one I talked to, have a call into another.

I've made some cold calls to physician recruiters again (sounding abit more desperate) asking for anything available (still would not like to work FT but I might have to rethink that) or offering volunteer time (though I would need some mentoring). Guess this is probably unrealistic though.

So, can anyone think of any other jobs I might qualify for?

I know of physicians who have done medical transcription (search on MomMD for that), insurance physicals, telemedicine (one person lost her license as a result of that!), hospital administration, malpractice chart review, and medical-director jobs at insurance, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies. You may find more non-clinical ideas in a couple of books by the AMA Press: "Leaving the Bedside" and "Strategic Career Management for the 21st Century Physician." If you are thinking about other clinical jobs, your pediatric experience could be useful as a pediatric hospitalist or in peds ER or urgent care. And then there is a whole world of non-medical stuff. That is all I can think of at the moment.

Thanks.

Well, still running into mostly dead ends. Finally caught this hospital physician recruiter that I'm sure was screening my calls as I finally got her using my husbands cell phone. It was tough trying to remain civil after being ignored for so long and just to be told that, no there are no other opportunities PT or FT. I recall a time when physicians used to be respected (but then again that was mostly for male physicians).

Some of those non-clinical ideas seem interesting but guess they would be last resort as I feel clinical medicine is what I'm most qualified to do and I need to get out of the house.

I've been asking if I could volunteer some time with initial mentoring so I could at least become known and develop some potential references. Don't know if this is doable though as I don't have malpractice coverage and the only free clinic here that I could get coverage for (I believe) doesn't see enough kids.

In my web searching, I did come across some info on physician re-entry programs for those out of practice for pretty extended periods for one reason or another. One program at an OR teaching hospital sets up a 'mini-residency' tailored to a person based on how long they've been out, their skills or lack of, etc and plan a schedule for how many months is decided necessary to re-enter. Sounds pretty good except the cost runs about $5-10,000/month not including living expenses etc, and programs done so far have run from 3-5 months, groan .

Got a name of a supposedly supportive fellow pediatrician in town that I plan to contact next week and after that will start going through the phone book offering myself. Wish my luck please.

I know I waited too long, but I first needed a bad break after that crazy last HMO experience and then I was holding out for that ideal part-time or locums job that never surfaced and then my child needed me when he became so ill. At least he is doing much better, but now I need to help him and us financially.

Thanks for anyone reading.

Physician re-entry programs are a great idea, but that one sounds really expensive! I know of a really good one for anesthesiologists, and it is only $1000/month. I wonder if that one you found is more for people who have lost their medical licenses and have to be "re-educated." When I was searching at one point, I found a program like that that was about $14,000, but it didn't even involve any patient care!

Talking with other pediatricians directly sounds like a great idea. Good luck!

Hang in there and good luck! Have you thought about trying residency programs? Sometimes they do reentry or have contacts....I know at the community health center I used to work at, we had pretty extensive shadowing/mentoring when we hired someone who had been out awhile. You should be able to get SOMETHING!

pastpedmd, you have probably already seen this site, but I just learned about it on Sermo:

http://www.physicianreentry.org/

It has some interesting articles and talks about different re-entry programs that already exist. It sounds like they are all pretty expensive.

College doc? family planning clinics doing yearly/pap/etc on young women?

Met with a fellow pediatrician in my town. He seemed very nice and asked about my situation. Said his practice was looking for someone as they hope to expand. He did seem a bit concerned about the length of my 'break' but I left a CV and he said someone would be in touch. That was 6 days ago and no word yet. Am starting to wonder and worry if I'll ever hear back or am I being too impatient?

Also my son has had a recent setback I hope is recoverable, so more to worry about. Thanks for the chance to vent a little.

I am also a pediatrician/at-home mom for the past 5 years. I have one child in college and two still at home. I think it sounds like you are doing all the right things and just need to persevere -- everyone is having trouble finding work right now! Maybe you could start by doing something non-clinical, as in insurance or legal chart review. This might give you more confidence that your knowledge is still there. Also, it is always easier to get a job when you have one! I guess what I am saying is, if you need to work, take what you can get and work your way back to where you want to be. Also, it sounds like your clinical practice experience was not a great one -- maybe consider non-clinical alternatives that might fit your personality and family needs. I am also thinking of finding work again, and many of your concerns echo my own. I don't believe you should regret or feel guilty about your time at home -- if you are like me, it has been a great gift to myself and my family. Good luck!:)

Can you apply for a short fellowship program (ie. sports medicine)? That might facilitate the re-entry and provide you with some contacts at the same time...

Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions. Afraid I got away from this site for awhile.
Here's an update and my latest dilemma:

After not hearing from the fellow pediatrician I met for almost 2 weeks I called him and was told that he had planned to call me after the physical construction/expansion on his clinic was completed (3-4 months!).

I asked him if I could mentor with someone in the meantime so that I could be ready when the new space was ready. He said he'd talk to one of his partners who would probably be doing the mentoring and call me back.

Well he didn't call back when he said he would, so I called again to be told that he hadn't talked to her yet but would and then get back to me. Again he didn't call, I called again and he said he had just talked to her and they agreed that their current space was just too small and cramped for me to mentor but that he would get in touch in about 2-3 months when the expansion was closer to being done.

While waiting around and getting pretty frustrated, I started calling around to other local pediatricians in the area to see if anyone needed some help. Though they were all very nice and helpful, the 4 that I called were not in need of help but directed me to others to try.

I stopped calling and decided that maybe I should just wait the 2-3 months until the clinic expansion is done - THEN yesterday's local paper had a Welcome ad to this clinic's newest PA hire who is "taking new patients now"!!

This was never mentioned to me. Not sure if I should feel really slighted, call him back to ask about this, or take this as a message that I am not wanted and will never be called again.
Please tell me your thoughts and if I'm way off base here and what you would do!

Thank you, and I have just sent my info to a medical consulting firm and am doing more non-medical volunteer work that I enjoy to help keep my sanity.

Here is my suggestion: Job Share!
I was working full time with 2 kids in Primary Care and just BURNT! I begged my clinic medical director to let me work half time, but basically I would still have to cover my share of the overhead and my income loss would be so significant. There was a real bias agianst half time providers in our organization for this reason. Many .5 FTE providers (almost ALL women MD's) were actually ending up OWING the company money. There was talk of actually filing suit for descrimination (remember Lilly Ledbetter?). I ask the organization to consider letting me set up a job share. It took 18 months to negotiate but I got it! When the job opening posted at our clinic we were FLOODED with amazing female MD applicants. Our organization ended up hiring my partner and 4 other women MD's to fill other positions they had not been able to fill at other clinics. We now have 5 sucessful job shares in our primary care group! My partner and I now out earn all the other full time MD's at our clinic. I work less and make almost the same amount of money!
Another pair of Mom MD's I know actually applied as a team to a 1 FTE position in another organization and got the job!

SO - start calling other Mamadocs and ask if they would be interested in a job share. It has turned out to be quite sucessful for us and for our orgainization as a recruiting tool. There is always one of us in clinic and patients love it.

GOOD LUCK AND DON'T GIVE UP!

What a great success story, medmama!

Thanks, I'll consider that...


>>> Not sure if I should feel really slighted, call him back to ask about this, or take this as a message that I am not wanted and will never be called again.
Please tell me your thoughts and if I'm way off base here and what you would do?!<<<

>>> Not sure if I should feel really slighted, call him back to ask about this, or take this as a message that I am not wanted and will never be called again.
Please tell me your thoughts and if I'm way off base here and what you would do?!<<<

In my own experience, I think that particularly when I'm stressed or frustrated, I have the instinct to feel slighted / think someone is acting a certain way because they don't like me WAY more often than is actually the case - and in almost all circumstances the best outcomes come from just making a conscious choice to ignore that possibility and align my actions, at least, with acting as if I assume the best &/or least self-focused interpretation (often: this person is very busy themselves, and in fact isn't thinking about me at all!).

I agree with AmmaMD. Don't take it personally. One explanation could be that they had planned all along on hiring the PA, and they didn't have room in the small clinic for both you and the PA. They didn't necessarily hire the PA instead of you. And even if they did, it does not mean that you are less qualified, because surely you are not. It might just be something practical, like the PA was able to work full time or cost less money. Anyway, you have nothing to lose by calling as planned. Be brave!

Thank you both for the sensible advice.

This is what I was trying to make myself believe but there was a small part of me that felt hurt and angry.

Yes it has been stressful and I'm frustrated partly because I'm worried about my son too. He still faces daily challenges just trying to cope and I wish there were more I could do for him.

Anyway I'm trying to continue with CME reading, volunteer activities and hope to do some medical consulting soon.

I will do a followup call in a couple of months as planned and hope for the best.

Thanks again.

Pastped-what type of medical consulting are you looking to do? just curious...