Question of the week
For many clinicians, retirement isn’t as simple as choosing a date and stepping away. Clinical demands, personal identity, and evolving career priorities all shape how and when providers consider slowing down.
More clinicians are rethinking what this transition looks like, weighing the desire to stay engaged in patient care against the need for greater balance. On Healthcasts, our community shared whether they plan to fully retire or scale back, and how they’re approaching this transition.
How are you preparing for retirement? Log in or sign up to read the full post, leave a comment, and see the Consensus.
Question of the week
1. Will you fully retire or scale back?
Comments
Key takeaways about how clinicians are preparing for retirement:
- Retirement isn’t binary
Most clinicians plan to scale back—not stop—gradually reducing hours, call, or shifting roles over time. - Flexibility drives longevity
Clinicians say adjusting workloads earlier would help them stay engaged longer while maintaining balance and avoiding burnout. - Medicine is more than a job—it’s part of identity
Even when financially able to retire, many clinicians express a desire to stay involved. Continuing in some capacity (clinical, teaching, or advisory) offers purpose, intellectual stimulation, and a sense of connection that’s hard to fully walk away from.
Anesthesia/Pain
"Scale back. I'll drop on-call first; no more 3 AM epidurals. Then do outpatient anesthesia or GI lab 2–3 days a week. Full stop feels dangerous. We like to ease off the propofol drip, not pull the plug."
Cardiology
"Hard to say in my 30s, but I am scaling back now during my child-rearing years, will likely ramp back up in my later years, but would probably slowly ease out of medicine by reducing hours over time."
Gastroenterology
"I would scale back. I don’t think I can just work full-time and then go to nothing. Plus, I’ll get bored. Or even consider teaching."
Unspecified/Other
"Most likely scale back from my already 30 hr/week current position. Once I am in my mid 60s, I want to be fully retired, though."
Psychiatry
"Gradually scaling back allows for time and energy to explore other areas of interest that were neglected previously due to work demands earlier in my career."
Internal Medicine
"I would prefer to scale back. I am too active and engaged to fully retire."
Internal Medicine
"My work-life balance is excellent as is, and I wish to work at least into my 60s, so I need to scale back. Even if I can financially afford to retire now, I enjoy my work, so I will continue."
Psychiatry
"Four years ago, I was being worked to death as an employee. Brutal call. Too many patients, no time for anything but work, and I dropped my ABPN certification. I replaced it with NBPAS. For the last 3 years, I have been working 2 days per week in a solo, private, cash practice. Now I enjoy treating patients again. I may or may not increase to 3 days per week, but not more. I have regained a connection to family, friends, and hobbies. I feel like I could do this indefinitely. I'm 58."
Unspecified/Other
"When that time comes, I feel I could fully retire and be financially sound, but I am not looking forward to a full retirement. Part of my identity is in helping people through medicine, and I would feel like I've lost part of myself if I were to give it up completely."
Unspecified/Other
"We plan to fully retire. We have aggressively saved and plan to travel full-time once our last child is in college. We are planning the 'go-go, slow-go, no-go' retirement/travel plan."
Would you prefer to just scale back from practicing medicine or fully retire? Share your opinion and read all of the comments on the post on Healthcasts.
