This conversation originally aired on Sept. 10, 2024.
According to 2024 data from the American Medical Association, around 40% of physicians surveyed indicated they were likely to reduce their clinical hours in the next year. One in 5 physicians say they intend to leave the profession entirely within the next two years, with nearly 28% of doctors surveyed reporting dissatisfaction with their current healthcare jobs.
Our guest was one of those doctors several years ago, and in 2022 she made the decision to leave direct patient care behind after practicing as a Gynecologic Oncology surgeon for just four years.
Dr. MaryAnn Wilbur went to medical school at Boston University School of Medicine and then spent eight years at Johns Hopkins Hospital doing a residency, and then a four year fellowship. She was most recently practicing at University of Rochester School of Medicine.
Once she stepped down from her career as a surgeon, Dr. Wilbur embarked on a project to conduct a series of one-on-one interviews with doctors like herself who had either recently left practice, or were strongly considering doing so, to shine light on this growing trend and what factors were driving it. She and her co-author, Dr. Katherine Rieth, have now published those conversations and the research behind them in the new book “The Doctor is No Longer In: Conversations with U.S. physicians.”
Guest:
Dr. MaryAnn Wilbur, MD, MPH, MHS is a GYN oncology surgeon who is no longer practicing; co-author of “The Doctor is No Longer In: Conversations with US physicians” (with Dr. Katherine Rieth); and Director & CEO of Health Equity Consulting
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