Find a Balance of Clinical and Nonclinical Work
In this week's episode, Dr. Nana Korsah describes how you can free yourself using locums and coaching. Nana is a former nephrologist turned adult locum hospitalist. She is board certified in internal medicine. But, she's also a certified life and financial coach for physicians who want to pay off debt and live wealthy lives.
Nana helps physicians who want to enjoy the lives they sacrificed so much to create, but they don't know how. She helps them build wealth and say “YES!” to the lives they want.
For undergraduate studies, she attended the University of Miami, followed by medical school at Wright State University in Cleveland, Ohio. Subsequently, she completed an internal medicine residency and fellowship at Case Western.
She really enjoyed nephrology. But after being in practice for a modest amount of time, she realized that the 80 to 100 weeks were burning her out. At the time, she had two small children at home. When her husband began traveling two hours away to return to school, she had to make a change.
She had an “aha” moment when she realized that her life was out of control. Recognizing that her financial situation was a big contributer, she began reading everything she could about finances and how to get out of debt.
She also learned about an unfamiliar concept: coaching. So, she began a search for her own personal coach after listening to a presentation by Dr Philippa Kennealy. Eventually, she recruited Dr. Kennealy to be her personal coach.
Adopting the Locum Life
With Dr. Kennealy's help, she was able to design a plan for her life that made a lot more sense, and she left her partnership to begin work as a locums nephrologist and hospitalist. Because nephrology locums jobs were limited, she focused on hospitalist jobs. That provided the ideal flexibility she needed to pursue a developing interest in becoming a coach herself.
During our interview, Nana explains how she searched for jobs using CompHealth and SumoStaffing. She created a plan that allowed her to care for her children, emotionally support her husband, and pay down her student debt.
Initially, she thought about becoming a certified financial planner, but her success inspired her to pursue coaching as a career. She selected Coach U. to obtain her coaching training, and became a certified coach.
She was impressed with results of working with a coach. Nana explained that she believes we should be intentional about designing our lives. She now works with young female physicians who are struggling with issues similar to those she experienced. Many of her clients are experiencing burn out, aggravated by excessive debt.
Our Sponsor
This podcast is made possible by the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA Program offered by the Haslam College of Business. You’ll remember that I interviewed Dr. Kate Atchley, the Executive Director of the program, in Episode #25 of this podcast.
The UT PEMBA is the longest running, and most highly respected physician-only MBA in the country, with over 650 graduates. Unlike most other ranked programs, which typically have a duration of 18 to 24 months, this program only takes a year to complete. And, it’s offered by the business school that was recently ranked #1 in the world for the Most Relevant Executive MBA program, by Economist magazine.
University of Tennessee PEMBA students bring exceptional value to their organizations by contributing at the highest level while earning their degree. The curriculum includes a number of major assignments and a company project, both of which are structured to immediately apply to each student’s organization.
Graduates have taken leadership positions at major healthcare organizations and have become entrepreneurs and business owners. If you want to acquire the business and management skills needed to advance your nonclinical career, contact Dr. Kate Atchley’s office by calling (865) 974-6526 or going to vitalpe.net/physicianmba.
We discussed the effects of burn out on physicians' lives. We agreed that burn out itself can be expensive because it can disrupt our lives. At the same time, the debt that so many of us have is itself a burden that makes it difficult to recognize that a change is possible.
Side-Gigs with Better Payment
Nana described locums as a fantastic option to free yourself when pursuing nonclinical part time jobs. She also found that there are other options to increase your income while improving career flexibility and work-life balance. The two that she recommends are working as a tele-hospitalist and as an expert witness.
Let's get our financial matters in order. If we do that, then we can do life and medicine on our own terms.
Nana Korsah
The tele-hospitalist job is a somewhat new position in healthcare. A tele-hospitalist supports rural hospitals that are unable to recruit onsite hospitalists. He or she will provide coverage from a distance with the help of the local nursing staff and physicians.
As I found during my interview of Peter Steinberg, the expert witness side job is a great way to earn an income while limiting, but not eliminating, clinical practice. The income often exceeds that from the clinical side. So, it's another option when trying to free yourself from debt and burnout.
Links for today's episode:
Dr. Korsah’s email address: doctorkorsah@gmail.com.
Facebook Group Physician Non-Clinical Career Hunters
Thanks to our sponsor…
Thanks to the UT Physician Executive MBA program for sponsoring the show. It’s an outstanding, highly rated, MBA program designed for working physicians. It might be just what you need to prepare for that joyful, well-paying career. You can find out more at vitalpe.net/physicianmba.
I hope to see you next time on the PNC Podcast.
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Podcast Editing & Production Services are provided by Oscar Hamilton.
Disclaimers:
The opinions expressed here are mine and my guest’s. While the information provided on the podcast is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge, there is no express or implied guarantee that using the methods discussed here will lead to success in your career, life or business.
Many of the links that I refer you to, and that you’ll find in the show notes, are affiliate links. That means that I receive a payment from the seller if you purchase the affiliate item using my link. Doing so has no effect on the price you are charged. And I only promote products and services that I believe are of high quality and will be useful to you, that I have personally used or am very familiar with.
The information presented on this blog and related podcast is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. It should not be construed as medical, legal, tax, or emotional advice. If you take action on the information provided on the blog or podcast, it is at your own risk. Always consult an attorney, accountant, career counsellor, or other professional before making any major decisions about your career.
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