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)

Medical director at a healthcare advertising agency.

This feels like a very niche role. How many positions like this can there be? Plus advertising involves very long hours.

Medical writing or work in pharma.

Sit as a specialist member on Tribunal panels? Eg MPTS or one of the Tribunal chambers - they need medical specialist members in the HESC chamber and the social entitlement chamber. Flexible work and interesting if you get a number of appointments

@Cocobutt pharmaceutical consultancy. So for an agency, rather than in house at a pharma company.

Thank you for all the suggestions, a lot of things to research further, and thank you especially for those with special insight.

@TheRealist the point is that band 5 nurses can't survive on their current pay. That is why they have been striking. We have food banks advertised in the toilets at work. It's really a fire situation all round.

@the

Pay is often quite similar for junior doctors and band 5s. And junior doctors have less choice about where they are sent for work (you rotate every 12months, don’t get any say in which hospital you are sent to, and some are miles apart - Derby and Lincoln are in the same Deanery).

They also have no choice about working antisocial hours - usually if a band 5 nurse works nights, they are consistent shifts. It isn’t one week of nights, one week of 8-6, one week of 2pm-midnight, on constant rotation. Makes it very hard to use standard nursery hours unless you have a partner who can do a lot of the pick ups and drop offs.

If your DP is a doctor as well, on nights (8pm-9am), and you are on late shifts, finishing at 10pm an hour away from home, who is looking after your child between your DP leaving for work at 7pm, and you getting back at 11pm? Either heavy family help, or an expensive out of hours nanny, or somebody gives up work/changes to a more family-friendly area like GP.

Nurses are badly paid for what they do, but junior doctors do have specific problems accessing “normal” childcare that nurses don’t usually face. A&E nurses might do, but the average ward nurse doesn’t, I am friends with enough of them to know their shift patterns.

Thank you Saschka. I don't think the competitive race to the bottom is helpful to anyone. Everyone has different difficulties.

I just want better for my family and I, and it's clear that this will only happen by either leaving medicine or the UK. I don't CCT for several years unfortunately, and I can't see myself coping with several more years working for the NHS as it is. It's a pity, as I am UK trained and I would dearly like to contribute further to the NHS. So many of my colleagues have left long ago however (mainly to Australia)

@Aphrathestorm you do realize that health visitors start as nurses, as do school nurses and they both need nursing degrees and occupational therapy needs it’s own degree too. A dr isn’t a nurse or OT with extra qualifications to fall back on. Retraining for a nursing job would be an utterly disastrous idea for the OP.

pharmaceutical/consultancy. Excellent pay but can be demanding!

I work in an area of technology that is associated with medical devices amongst other things.

There are lots of jobs for people with clinical experience at the interface between end user and device designers.

TBH I would just find a recruitment agency that specialises in these sorts of fields and send off your cv. You can be clear about things like minimum salary requirements. They will find potential employment opportunities for you in a way that AIBU on mumsnet won't.

Came on to say this.

The money is very very good, but the hours would probably be worse! DH is the clinical director of a pharmaceutical research company and manages clinical trial projects. He earns far more than most doctors or consultants but works about 16 hour days, lots of travelling abroad to other sites, and it is high pressure.

There is money to be made in pharma if you can work your way up the ladder.
DH started out with a biology degree, then a PhD in respiratory toxicology.
The pay is good but we do sacrifice a lot in terms of family time, so I am not sure I agree about the hours being better!

Hi OP,

I’m an investment banker and we have an ex-doctor in the Bank who joined via our graduate scheme.

Hours very dependent on each Bank, department and role. During busy seasons it can be unsociable hours of course, say 7am-9pm, but we are compensated accordingly and childcare is definitely affordable. We are allowed to WFH 3 days a week, and again, dependent on team, 4 days a week contracts etc are available.

Most large Banks have teams which specialise in Consumer and Healthcare clients, perhaps this could be something to consider.

My friend retrained and became a dentist. Seems much happier and still does private GP stuff on the side.

@SELondonLurker out of interest, how old is too old to apply for a grad scheme in the banks to become a banker? I'd like to apply but am 35 I have just completed a masters degree if that makes any difference... thanks.

@bimbobboo it really depends on Bank,
some have restrictions which say 1-2 years post university. But given you’ve just done your masters then that could still be applicable.

If I were you, I’d pick a few grad schemes you like the look of and just drop the HR team an email to explain your circumstances and see what they say.