Planning for retirement from medicine: a mixed-methods study

Abstract

Background: Evidence suggests there are important personal and social consequences associated with inadequate retirement planning for physicians. We evaluated whether academic physicians felt satisfied with their retirement planning, and identified obstacles to retirement planning and a set of factors to facilitate retirement planning. Methods:We applied a sequential mixed-methods research design to explore and examine factors that facilitate academic physician retirement planning using data collected from multiple sources (including 7 focus groups, an internet-based survey and 23 in-depth interviews). We examined survey results regarding retirement planning satisfaction and preferences for complete versus gradual retirement. We used thematic analysis to examine verbatim transcripts and notes from the focus groups and interviews.Results: Survey data (response rate 51%) indicated that 10% of respondents were very satisfied with their retirement planning and 89.5% would prefer to retire gradually rather than stop work completely. Key barriers to retirement planning that emerged included poor personal financial management, rigid institutional structures and professional norms. Facilitators included financial planning resources for physicians at multiple career stages, opportunities and resources for later-career transitions and later-career mentorship support for intergenerational collaboration, and recognition of retirees.Interpretation: Key findings highlight perceived barriers to retirement planning at various career stages in addition to factors that can enhance physicians' retirement planning, including creating gradual and flexible retirement options, supporting ongoing discussions about financial planning and later career transitions, and fostering a culture that continues to honour and involve retirees. Medical institutions could foster innovative models for later-career transitions from medicine in ways that address physicians' needs at various career stages, support gradual transitions from practice and recognize the value of experienced, capable later-career physicians and retirees. Abstract ResearchResearch CMAJ OPEN E124CMAJ OPEN, 5(1)

Transition Planning for the Senior Surgeon

“…Compensation for nonclinical roles can play an important part in this process, but it is not a substitute for support and tutorials on appropriate personal financial management beginning in early career. Discussions about transition, ideally held in a private setting, potentially with a trusted administrative confidant or confidante, should be supportive of the senior surgeon’s ongoing, important contributions to his or her field and department but clearly delineate a change from the surgeon’s clinically active and/or primary surgeon status …”

“…Transitioning efforts must take into consideration 3 common reasons why senior physicians may wish to defer retirement: lack of outside interests, financial needs, and a perceived obligation to maintain clinical activity because of dedication to patient care and/or perceptions that the next generation does not share their own level of commitment or capability. 1,38,39 More specifically, it is important to consider that older-generation physicians and surgeons may have been encouraged over the course of their career to embrace a perception of work-life balance that favors career as a primary focus and priority. 1 Commitment to their work may have led such physicians to a paucity of interests or hobbies outside of medicine and thus no foundation on which to transition from a more active, timedemanding clinical practice.…”

“…Discussions about transition, ideally held in a private setting, potentially with a trusted administrative confidant or confidante, should be supportive of the senior surgeon's ongoing, important contributions to his or her field and department but clearly delineate a change from the surgeon's clinically active and/or primary surgeon status. 38,39 Nonoperative roles for senior surgeons can include administration and peer review, research, education, community and/or philanthropic outreach and development, and perhaps most importantly, mentoring or coaching of junior surgeons, advanced practice practitioners and nurses, trainees, and other staff members. Some of these activities might be more readily supported in academic institutions, as has recently been modeled by the Johns Hopkins Senior Faculty Transition Program and Emeritus Faculty Academy.…”

Jubilación, una mirada amable en El médico de Budapest (2020)

“…Cuando el trabajo ha sido gratificante, la experiencia acumulada a lo largo de los años redundará de forma positiva en el equipo y en los nuevos aspirantes a médicos, admitiéndose que una transición gradual hacia la jubilación con reducción de responsabilidades beneficiaria al médico y al sistema 11 . Las encuestas y trabajos realizados respecto a esta cuestión reflejan la aversión de los médicos a terminar abruptamente su vida laboral y que las instituciones médicas deberían facilitar la planificación promoviendo la jubilación gradual 15 .…”

Wealth Management and Retirement

“…30 Timing of surgeon retirement is multifactorial and dependent on financial preparedness, lifestyle preferences, workload (and burnout), work satisfaction, and many other factors. 31 While many physicians are dissatisfied with their financial preparedness for retirement, 13 no data are available on how many surgeons are forced to change their retirement plans due to financial constraints (i.e., inadequate retirement funds). Simulating multiple retirement age scenarios using the tools provided in the Setting a Retirement Fund Goal section can help account for possible change in retirement age preferences.…”