5 Diverse Careers for Doctors (who want to stay in Healthcare!) Considering an alternative career to medicine but don’t want to stray too far from healthcare? Here are 5 diverse medical careers that can offer a smooth transition from clinical medicine into another healthcare related profession. 1. Management Consulting As is the case in most diverse medical careers, the skills that are required to succeed in medicine are also in high demand in the field of management consultancy. It’s possible to enter management consultancy straight after medical school or after acquiring expertise in a particular specialty. Management consultancy firms look for candidates who are creative problem-solvers, great with people, enjoy the intellectual challenges of business, and have the ability to think critically and analytically. If you are interested in healthcare consulting your clinical experience will also be highly valuable and may give you the competitive edge compared to others. A career in management consulting can be rewarding for those looking for a more business orientated, intellectually stimulating career with the potential to influence strategies that have a broader impact on healthcare. Some well-known consultancies that recruit doctors are: McKinsey, Deloitte, Price Waterhouse Cooper, and the Boston Consulting Group. 2. Healthcare Entrepreneurship If you have a great idea and would love to be your own boss then perhaps healthcare entrepreneurship is for you. As doctors, we are faced with hundreds of ‘problems’ everyday. If you have a solution (and a strong desire) to solve one of these problems then healthcare entrepreneurship may be for you! Be aware that your idea, belief in the idea, and enthusiasm for it will not be enough to succeed. The most important aspects of entrepreneurship are to identify a problem, share the solution with the right stakeholders, obtain funding and critically, work with the right people to achieve your goals. Many doctors tend to be perfectionists – don’t be afraid to fail, most successful entrepreneurs have tried a load of projects/ideas before becoming successful. Some business that have been set up or influenced by doctors that you may want to keep your eyes on are: Doctify, Touch Surgery, Medikidz, Headspace, Derma Medical…watch this space! 3. Medical Writing & Journalism How many medical articles, essays, dissertations and the like have you written since getting into medical school? The chances are that you are a pretty good writer whether writing scientifically, academically, or communicating complex information at a level appropriate to the target audience. Medical writers are in high demand (particularly in the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare communications) and if you enjoy writing, this could be a great career option. The bonus is that you can work part-time or full time! Several doctors have carved successful careers writing books, articles and reports, and don’t forget he world of editing and publishing too. Doctors can make excellent medical writers due to them having experience searching medical literature, great background knowledge of complex scientific concepts (or the ability to understand them), a skill for communicating medical topics to audiences of differing backgrounds and a good understanding of research, data presentation, editing and publishing. If you enjoy medical writing, you can find some interesting roles in medical education, journalism, marketing, research, as well as healthcare product/medical device companies, the pharmaceutical industry, medical journals, publishing companies and even medical societies or institutions. 4. Media Medicine There are plenty of roles for doctors in the media. Flick through your regular newspaper and no doubt you’ll find a regular health column written by a doctor. Drive home listening to the radio and you will likely hear Dr Radha on BBC Radio 1’s ‘the Surgery’, switch on the TV and perhaps you will see Dr Christian on ‘Embarrassing Bodies’. You will probably need to have finished your specialty training, or at least have a number of years experience in a particular field to land one of the above ‘starring’ roles but there are a number of other media-related roles which may not require having finished specialty training. For example, some doctors have fulfilled roles as Medical Advisors for TV programmes, documentaries and films who have medical subject matter. 5. The Civil Service Another diverse medical career option that I recently became aware of are roles for doctors in the civil service. Opportunities for doctors may range from careers in health policy, roles as medical assessors or advisors or chief medical officers for the Department of Health (currently filled by Dame Sally Davies) or the Ministry of Defence (role currently available!). These career opportunities require different levels of clinical experience and it’s well worth registering for job alerts where a medical background is required – you may be pleasantly surprised! Source
