I gave notice today!

D

disneysteve

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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Feb 10, 2021
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I had my annual review meeting today and used it as an opportunity to give notice of my retirement. Our contracts require 120 days notice. That would take me to June 12 but they'll most likely make my last day June 8 as that's the end of the pay period.


I will have been at this job for just over 8 years and June 30 would mark 31 years in practice. While many/most doctors work well into their 60's and beyond, I will be retiring 2 months shy of my 60th birthday. Although I love being a doctor and have had a great career, I have never been someone who was defined by my job like many doctors are.


I'm curious to see how I feel once I inactivate my medical license because that's when my career will truly be over. At that point, I will no longer be able to practice medicine in any capacity, even to write a simple prescription for a family member. That will definitely be kind of odd.


Bottom line is that in 4 months I will be officially done.
 
Congratulations.
Sounds like you are even done with the very part time shifts you have been doing.
Summer time is a great time to have all the freedom you want!
 
Congrats. Yes did notice that many doctors work into later ages.
Time for your next stage of life.
 
That's really great - hard w*rk and a good plan pay off! Congratulations, disneysteve!
 
Congrats, a big milestone. Sounds like you’re comfortable with your decision, well done.
 
Woo-Hoo! Congratulations on your decision.

I don't know what it takes to maintain your license, and I'm not suggesting you keep it active, but I continued to participate in continuing education and pay my annual renewal for my Professional Engineering license for several years after I retired. I didn't have any specific intention of returning to w*rk but keeping the license active allowed me to w*rk if the desire surfaced.

After 2 years I stopped my continuing education classes but even that would have only meant that I had to quickly acquire the deficit credits if I chose to return to w*rk. After 8 years I figured enough time had passed that I was never going to w*rk again in the engineering field and I stopped paying the annual professional fees.

Once again, congratulations! Here's to the next chapter of life.
 
Congratulations. I envy your ability to walk away from your license more than your retiring from your career. That is really impressive that you can sever yourself so cleanly. I'm an engineer but don't have a PE so I have nothing to walk away from but I'm pretty sure I would extend my PE after retirement and keep the door open to any lucrative consulting gigs that might pop up. Your attitude is very impressive. Enjoy retirement!
 
Congrats! I thought you were already retired, ha ha.

How was your notice received?
 
I wish you the best!! I also thank you for your time as Doctor. I couldn't imagine the stress your job must have had mentally dealing with sick people and seeing suffering.

Thank You!
 
Congratulations and thank you for your long career as a doctor.
 
Congrats Steve. I'd say you are and have been striking that balance between work and life away from work. This has been a well orchestrated retirement :)
 
Congratulations Steve!
 
nvestysly said:
I don't know what it takes to maintain your license, and I'm not suggesting you keep it active, but I continued to participate in continuing education and pay my annual renewal for my Professional Engineering license for several years after I retired. I didn't have any specific intention of returning to w*rk but keeping the license active allowed me to w*rk if the desire surfaced.
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Deciding to give up my license was the hardest part of my decision. Paying the license fee and getting my continuing education would be relatively minor expenses. The problem is that it would also require carrying malpractice insurance. That would run me 10-15K/yr and it's just not worth it, so once I stop working in June, I will put my license on inactive status. There is a way to reactivate it but the state website is awful so I'm not entirely clear on the process were I to want to do that. But I think once I'm done, I'm done. I don't see myself practicing again in the future, especially after any extended gap.
 
Irishgirlyc58 said:
Congratulations Disneysteve!

Are you going to Disneyland? :)
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It would be Walt Disney World for us, but no immediate plans. We actually haven't been there since October 2021 which is the longest we've gone since before we were married and took our first trip together in 1990. I've been somewhat disillusioned with a lot of the recent changes. Also, my wife has had some serious medical issues the past couple of years couple with my 93-year-old mother needing more and more attention. We haven't traveled at all since May 2022 though if all is stable, we will be going to Mexico in just under 2 weeks. If that works out okay, maybe we'll plan our next Disney trip.
 
audreyh1 said:
Congrats! I thought you were already retired, ha ha.

How was your notice received?
Click to expand...
Nope. Not retired, though hardly working. For all of 2023, I averaged 6.7 hours/week of work. Since 1/1/24, I've worked a total of 24 hours.


My notice was received with very mixed feelings. She was excited for me but very sad to be losing me. Not to toot my own horn but I've been an integral part of this team for nearly 8 years. As an older, more experienced physician, I quickly fell into the role of the "elder statesman" of sorts. When others had a problem but weren't comfortable speaking up, they often came to me and I would pass on their concerns (anonymously) to the higher ups. I'd be the one raising issues at our staff meetings based on things others (and me) were concerned with. And our lead physician greatly valued that from me. She knew I was observant and involved and trusted and detail oriented so that if I brought something to her attention, it was something that needed attending to. I didn't bother her with stupid stuff. So not only is she losing a provider, she's losing someone who served a much deeper role as her eyes and ears about what was going on.
 
skyking1 said:
Congrats Steve. I'd say you are and have been striking that balance between work and life away from work. This has been a well orchestrated retirement :)
Click to expand...
Switching from Family Practice to Urgent Care in 2016-17 was the best decision for many reasons, but easing into retirement was definitely one of them. It's exceedingly difficult to be a part time family doctor and virtually impossible to be a per diem family doctor. At UC, however, it's quite simple. I started as a per diem doing 4 or 8 hours per week, then took a PT position at 20 hours, then FT at 36 hrs, then back to PT at 24 hrs, and finally back to per diem. The flexibility of this job is unbeatable and it gave me the opportunity to "test drive" us living on a reduced income incrementally rather than being thrust into it all at once from 100 to 0.
 
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