Docs with second jobs

Between patient appointments, entering notes and billing codes into EMRs, spending time with family and grabbing a precious few hours of sleep, some doctors take on extra work outside of their regular workplace and, in many cases, outside of their usual area of practice. While there are no statistics currently tracking how many Canadian physicians work extra jobs, a glance south of the border reveals close to 40% of all American doctors have a second or even third source of income. According to a Medscape survey conducted earlier this year, these extra jobs— medical consulting, expert witness, medical “moonlighting,” chart review and speaking engagements are the most popular gigs—take up 16 hours on average each month and can last for as long as a decade. While money was the main motive cited among almost half of Medscape survey respondents, the rest noted other reasons they toil outside of their usual workplace. These reasons included having fun, preparing for a second career after retirement, skill building and pursuing a hobby or talent. Read: Optimizing capitation billing “For me, it’s doing something different that I enjoy doing,” said Dr. Michael Simon, a family doctor in St. John, N.B., who added occupational medicine to his workload more than 20 years ago, when an overwhelmed colleague asked him to help provide acute care and vaccinations to crew members working aboard the supertankers that carried oil to the city’s harbour. “It’s interesting work and it takes me out of the office.” That’s something of an understatement. In fact, Dr. Simon’s work in occupational medicine puts him on tugboats that take him out to sea, where he has a limited time to do what he needs to do before the ship sails back to destinations such as Saudi Arabia or Norway. “This past summer I was called out because there was potential contact with (tuberculosis) and the ship wouldn’t be allowed to come in until everyone aboard got tested,” he recalled. “You’re practising medicine on your own out there. Sometimes the water is so rough the tugboat can’t get out there and one of the guys once told me, ‘Make sure you keep your lifejacket on, doc—you fall out there, you’re in trouble.’” There’s a nice social and cultural aspect to the work. It’s not unusual for Dr. Simon to sit down for lunch with a ship’s captain and crew. On one occasion, he was called to an Indian supertanker where he enjoyed a curry lunch. He also gets to noodle around ships’ cockpits and peer at the mapping and other electronic systems. “These supertankers are amazing machines. The people who work on them—some of these guys have 30 to 40 years of history at sea, they’ve seen incredible things, they’ve come up on storms so powerful they could break a ship’s back,” said Dr. Simon. “For me to have a little part of this and to be able to practise medicine with these guys, it’s very rewarding.” GETTING THE WORK Word-of-mouth is the most powerful marketing tool. Dr. Chris Sun, a Toronto family physician, got work supervising muay thai matches through “a friend of a friend.” While working his first match, he was asked by a couple of fight promoters if he would also supervise their matches. Read: Family doctors’ out-of-office passions There are also platforms where you can sign up for extra work, including ExpertInstitute.com for doctors interested in becoming an expert medical witness, or MDforLives.com for those interested in earning a little extra cash by answering surveys. According to the latter’s FAQs, doctors who sign up can make anywhere from $50 to $500 for each survey they participate in, depending on specialty and country of residence. MDforLives also offers opportunities for building CME credits. GETTING PAID Rates for part-time work vary according to the type of work, who’s hiring you and what part of the country you’re in. A retainer may make sense for work that’s ongoing but has unpredictable hours. In other cases setting an hourly rate—as a baseline, start with what your provincial association recommends for uninsured services—is best. How much additional income can you expect to bring in? According to the Medscape survey, physicians with an extra job earned an additional US$25,300 a year on average. Male physicians earned an average of US$27,500 a year from their part-time work while their female counterparts pulled in US$20,900. LEARNING THE ROPES While you may be comfortable with onthe-job training to pick up the skills you need to do extra work, for specialized procedures it’s best to get trained and certified. If you’re interested in offering cosmetic injections, a good place to start is the Allergan Medical Institute, run by the company that owns Botox and Juvéderm. Finding a mentor who can help you get and train for a second job is also a good idea. That’s what some of the physicians surveyed by Medscape did to gain skills in a second job they were interested in. MAKING SURE YOU’RE COVERED Before taking on extra work beyond your usual practice, check with the Canadian Medical Protective Association to make sure this new job is included in your regular coverage. WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO? The Medscape survey found some doctors were taking on extra work that has nothing to do with medicine. Among this group, the most popular non-medical part-time jobs were in real estate, investment advice, consulting, teaching and writing.

Docs with second jobs

Register for free access or login.

Related Topics