Physician leaving clinical practice for FDA..

[Anonymous]

The recent thread on this forum led me make this post. I've been in practice for 8 years and hate many things about clinical medicine including call, documentation, insurance companies and crappy patients. I am currently applying for a position at the FDA. The lifestyle seems good but I am worried about making the move. I have trained a long time to see patients and am worried about making the break. A lot of my identity is tied to being a doctor and seeing patients. It may sound shallow, but it's true.
Have any docs that have made the move to federal government work regretted the decision? Is the half day of seeing patients they allow worthwhile. Is it enough t make up for the change? Do you miss seeing patients everyday?
I would love others' input on the matter. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Most of the FDA docs are at the FDA because they burned out on clinical medicine or they wanted time for their family. Those who didn't like it and regretted the move generally returned to clinical medicine in a couple of years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The recent thread on this forum led me make this post. I've been in practice for 8 years and hate many things about clinical medicine including call, documentation, insurance companies and crappy patients. I am currently applying for a position at the FDA. The lifestyle seems good but I am worried about making the move. I have trained a long time to see patients and am worried about making the break. A lot of my identity is tied to being a doctor and seeing patients. It may sound shallow, but it's true.
Have any docs that have made the move to federal government work regretted the decision? Is the half day of seeing patients they allow worthwhile. Is it enough t make up for the change? Do you miss seeing patients everyday?
I would love others' input on the matter. Thanks!

What will new job entail?

What's your specialty? If you leave clinical med, you're hosed.

If you're primary care, get into a cash based model. More money , more time with patients

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The recent thread on this forum led me make this post. I've been in practice for 8 years and hate many things about clinical medicine including call, documentation, insurance companies and crappy patients. I am currently applying for a position at the FDA. The lifestyle seems good but I am worried about making the move. I have trained a long time to see patients and am worried about making the break. A lot of my identity is tied to being a doctor and seeing patients. It may sound shallow, but it's true.
Have any docs that have made the move to federal government work regretted the decision? Is the half day of seeing patients they allow worthwhile. Is it enough t make up for the change? Do you miss seeing patients everyday?
I would love others' input on the matter. Thanks!

What will new job entail?

What's your specialty? If you leave clinical med, you're hosed.

If you're primary care, get into a cash based model. More money , more time with patients

Why are you hosed if you leave clinical med? I know so many medical officers who didn't like the FDA (generally they wanted more $$) and returned to practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The recent thread on this forum led me make this post. I've been in practice for 8 years and hate many things about clinical medicine including call, documentation, insurance companies and crappy patients. I am currently applying for a position at the FDA. The lifestyle seems good but I am worried about making the move. I have trained a long time to see patients and am worried about making the break. A lot of my identity is tied to being a doctor and seeing patients. It may sound shallow, but it's true.
Have any docs that have made the move to federal government work regretted the decision? Is the half day of seeing patients they allow worthwhile. Is it enough t make up for the change? Do you miss seeing patients everyday?
I would love others' input on the matter. Thanks!

What will new job entail?

What's your specialty? If you leave clinical med, you're hosed.

If you're primary care, get into a cash based model. More money , more time with patients

Why are you hosed if you leave clinical med? I know so many medical officers who didn't like the FDA (generally they wanted more $$) and returned to practice.

What specialties? Building a practice takes time. Leave clinical med for too long (>2 years), and you will lose those top flight skills.

Being a solid clinician takes dedication. You can't part time it, and you can't be away too long.

[Anonymous]

I figure it would only take a year or two to figure out if you didn't like it. In that amount of time it would be fairly easy to go back to clinical medicine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I figure it would only take a year or two to figure out if you didn't like it. In that amount of time it would be fairly easy to go back to clinical medicine.

Below 2 years you are fine.

What is FDA job description? What is pay?

[Anonymous]

I can't wait to leave clinical medicine and won't miss patients at all. Have to pay my loans and mortgage down first.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the FDA docs are at the FDA because they burned out on clinical medicine or they wanted time for their family. Those who didn't like it and regretted the move generally returned to clinical medicine in a couple of years.

That's not my experience working with FDA docs as a lawyer for HHS. Incredibly dedicated physicians who come to the FDA via the Public Health Service, or spend years of their career at the FDA. How many FDA docs do you actually know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I figure it would only take a year or two to figure out if you didn't like it. In that amount of time it would be fairly easy to go back to clinical medicine.

Below 2 years you are fine.

What is FDA job description? What is pay?

Probably developing new means of delaying the availability of life-saving medicines to the public, and throwing up new barriers in front of the private sector.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I figure it would only take a year or two to figure out if you didn't like it. In that amount of time it would be fairly easy to go back to clinical medicine.

Below 2 years you are fine.

What is FDA job description? What is pay?

Probably developing new means of delaying the availability of life-saving medicines to the public, and throwing up new barriers in front of the private sector.

Like Thalidomide?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the FDA docs are at the FDA because they burned out on clinical medicine or they wanted time for their family. Those who didn't like it and regretted the move generally returned to clinical medicine in a couple of years.

That's not my experience working with FDA docs as a lawyer for HHS. Incredibly dedicated physicians who come to the FDA via the Public Health Service, or spend years of their career at the FDA. How many FDA docs do you actually know?

At least ten, probably more, in all specialties. I have worked closely with seven. I agree that they are dedicated, but almost all of them are either moms who wanted more family time, an older person who wanted to semi retire, someone who left another federal institution but wanted to stay in the government, or someone who got tired of clinical medicine. Yes of course they spend years at the FDA; the longer you regulate, the less qualified you are to do anything else.

I don't know anyone who came from the PHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The recent thread on this forum led me make this post. I've been in practice for 8 years and hate many things about clinical medicine including call, documentation, insurance companies and crappy patients. I am currently applying for a position at the FDA. The lifestyle seems good but I am worried about making the move. I have trained a long time to see patients and am worried about making the break. A lot of my identity is tied to being a doctor and seeing patients. It may sound shallow, but it's true.
Have any docs that have made the move to federal government work regretted the decision? Is the half day of seeing patients they allow worthwhile. Is it enough t make up for the change? Do you miss seeing patients everyday?
I would love others' input on the matter. Thanks!

What will new job entail?

What's your specialty? If you leave clinical med, you're hosed.

If you're primary care, get into a cash based model. More money , more time with patients

Why are you hosed if you leave clinical med? I know so many medical officers who didn't like the FDA (generally they wanted more $$) and returned to practice.

What specialties? Building a practice takes time. Leave clinical med for too long (>2 years), and you will lose those top flight skills.

Being a solid clinician takes dedication. You can't part time it, and you can't be away too long.

Depends...my husband returned after a decade doing research, and is doing great.

[Anonymous]

It is not for everyone, but it can be incredibly interesting work (along some really boring work...but hey even clinical practice can be boring as well). I would encourage you to think about how you recharge. Do you recharge from the patient interaction or is it after solving and/or trouble shooting a complex case? I would also think hard about what part of the Agency you are applying to. What center, is it a review division, and internal consultant division, etc. The feel and work for each area can be drastically different (much like choosing a speciality)

For what it is worth I think the demograhic at the Agency is changing. Many of my colleagues are coming straight from fellowship, or are burnt out after being in academics for a few year. A fair number have come from NIH given the difficulties they have had with funding. A few come from Industry as many. Buy in my experience not as many come from an established private practice.


People have certainly left and returned to clinical practice and a fair number jump to Industry. It ends training for a different type of job. The half day clinic us enough for some isn't enough for others. Many also moonlight to keep up basic skills. It isnt a lot and you clinical skills can definitely get rusty particularly for primary care of you are a sub specialist)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I figure it would only take a year or two to figure out if you didn't like it. In that amount of time it would be fairly easy to go back to clinical medicine.

Below 2 years you are fine.

What is FDA job description? What is pay?

Probably developing new means of delaying the availability of life-saving medicines to the public, and throwing up new barriers in front of the private sector.

Like Thalidomide?

There is another less publicized chapter in the thalidomide story, besides the one from over fifty years ago that FDA loves to trot out as an example of how useful its regulation is.

Thalidomide actually does have clinical uses in chemotherapy, etc. which are FDA approved.

Sadly the approval took seven years after the first reports of the drug's efficacy.