To ask what else I can do with a medical degree

[BelleMarionette]

I'm a doctor, and don't think I can afford to be anymore, with the abysmal pay, conditions, and antisocial hours.

I have been working just to pay childcare for the majority of my career.

I'm looking for something better paid (this should be easy as pay is pretty dire) with flexibility to ideally work from home for some of the week. The difficulty with medicine is that we become so institutionalised that it's hard to see what else there is out there.

Any suggestions for careers that would value my experience? (Registrar, so completed foundation training and several years of speciality training)

Lots of doctors work within the Pharma industry

My friend retrained in Histopathology while doing locum work. She's much happier.

I was going to suggest exploring the pharmaceutical industry.

I worked in it and liked it very much. I’m not a medical doctor but I worked with them sometimes. Some combined pharma with clinical work, others not.

Medical or scientific writer?

Medical signatories in the Pharma industry are in high demand.

Scientific or medical copywriting? I’m a copywriter, and work flexibly from home. My favourite clients are scientific organisations! It can be lucrative if you have a science/medical degree (I don’t, so it isn’t been lucrative for me).

Pharma needs doctors and also health tech

PS I’m so sorry that actually being a doctor is so awful

If you've done several years of specialty training, surely you're on at least £50k? I'm struggling to see how that would only just pay for childcare.

Clinical director in pharmaceutical company?

What specialty?

I'm a nanny and I earn more than that.

If she's working long/antisocial hours, she may well need a nanny and there goes her wages.

😂🎣

But presumably the child has a father? Who may well be around at home for at least some of those antisocial hours?

there are quite a few ‘fit to work’ positions available. Many seem to be work from home.

Regulatory side, eg council of GPs or registration board or similar? Sorry I'm not in the UK so I don't know the names of the medical regulators.

Insurance industry? Either Health, Life or Travel type insurance or general liability insurance where claims often have medical elements

I don't think it's for us to pick through the OP's childcare arrangements. Maybe she's a single parent? Maybe he's a doctor too? Maybe he works long or more antisocial hours than she does? Who knows?!

You were struggling to understand how childcare can cost more than 50k. I was simply highlighting that a nanny (a type of childcare) costs more than that, therefore ending your struggle to understand.

Lecturing. The hours are more sociable and there is alot more flexibility but the pay is probably the same / lower

You can be a doctor in private practice, no?

🙄 there's always one!

Not a race to the bottom.

I'll let someone else break down the fees doctors have to pay out for, and that's before you get to other necessities and COL and all that is before you get to the equivalent hourly pay...

I came here to say insurance or pharma - both have been suggested already. I've known doctors in both fields who were happy in their work.

I'm not saying that doctors pay is adequate for the job, or that they don't deserve more (I think they do deserve more). But childcare generally costs less than that salary, and the dad should also be paying 50%.

I work in a med tech company and we have lots of people who are medically qualified in all kinds of roles. Off the top of my head, they include clinical marketing, patient education, grant review, running clinical trials, clinical data review, remote imaging support, product development, sales (esp in areas which are more hands on sales), clinical consulting, and clinical evaluations. Thats just people I know and there are probably many more. It does obviously depend on your speciality and inclination though.

You usually need to be a consultant to do this, and it's also very specialty dependent. Some specialties have lots of private work, others don't.