- Matthew Tupper
- London
- United Kingdom
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Retired Doctors, how do we make better use of them?
The western world's population is ageing and those with high levels of expertise are being allowed to drift uselessly into retirement. How do we deal with this? How can we continue to harness their skills, knowledge and experience to improve society?
Rhona Pavis 50+
Robert Winner 50+
Krisztián Pintér 200+
pat gilbert 50+
A retired doctor I see frequently says that a lot of the stuff is no longer being taught, one example he gave was how to bring a person out of cardiac fibrillation without any equipment.
Vidya G
João Coucelo 10+
As mentioned, the option of keeping doctors in hospitals, peripheral health centers, or lecturing must always be optional.
For those willing, and mostly those who have proven through their careers to be valuable, it should an open option.
I studied and currently live in Czech Republic, and here this is a common practice. Basically, those interested have the opportunity to downgrade salaries and work hours and still have a role at the faculty or hospital. I appreciated and felt it was humanly correct. They were motivated and much dedicated.
I had some professors teaching few classes at clinical subjects that were old. They were over 70, and their lessons were a valuable part of my medical and human education. These doctors come from the times where medicine was more clinical than laboratory or complementary exam based. They could tell the type of anemia, the valve defect, the nutrition defect, so many things... just by examining the patient and clinical history.
On other hand, I spent uncountable hours listening to other old doctors that due to lack of memory would ask the same question or to check some patient with and interesting finding 5 times, or they wouldn't be as updated in medical knowledge as needed... You can't have these second type of persons teaching or working as consultants.
So yes I agree people should have the option to stay active, but I also think that as all other, they most fulfill standards.
Philip McMillan
Left to me I would take them to places where their true value would be appreciated by the patients - not in a developed country.
Johnson Tam-Lit
Johnson Tam-Lit
For me the third phase of life is about utilising wisdom and reigniting passion and excitement, words that are often missing in this phase.
Remember retirement as a concept is a modern one and didn't come into existence until the 1870's.
Matthew Tupper
It would be a great value add and as you say it could also potentially be inspirational to school children
Robert Galway 20+
First, I am not a doctor, so I can only guess what might work.
I would expect that at any patient/doctor interface, there is a trust between doctor and patient that is pretty sacred. If a doctor retires, it could very well be because he/she no longer feels up to the challenge of providing a level of service commensurate with this trust.
If I were looking for ways in which they may still contribute where this trust was not soley on their shoulders, I would look for opportunities to mentor younger doctors in non-clinical situations, use their knowledge to help people understand the choices they are being given in complex and difficult medical situations, work with paramedics in remote locations or in extreme circumstances where having and extra person with medical knowledge made a difference. They might be great speakers to talk to kids about career choices, health choices, and coping with medical conditions. They might work on a cruise ship or similar situation where there was some enjoyment associated with the job in a part time situation for a day or two to get free cruises. They may work with Public health service as representatives to promote public health in remote areas and spot medical conditions that need attention, in exchange for free travel. As long as their confidence in thier skills remains in tact, perhaps some sort of cooperative free clinic run with other doctors on a part time basis would be attractive. Hard to say.
So much depends on the doctor. Some would never be able to step back into a lesser role and work themselves to death, which doesn't seem fair. Some would find anything less than being a practicing doctor a bit demeaning. I am not sure money is a strong enough incentive. Perhaps adventure, or opportunity to do a lot of good in a short period of time would be appealing.
Matthew Tupper
With the advent of mobile health solutions, i.e. Skin scan app or the health solution described by Jose Marquez in Huffington post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jose-marquez/will-mhealth-revolutioniz_b_1324991.html, there is a massive opportunity for society to offer an opportunity for doctors to work but in a less stressful/intensive environment. Potentially through being the consultant at the end of the phone/app?
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Matthew Tupper
In my opinion the mass proliferation of mobile devices has made the world smaller and more accessible. Perhaps there is a way in which highly experienced physicians can offer their services to areas of the world which are lacking in high level healthcare without having to undergo the travel to reach that area.
Riela Isabel Antonio 500+
Matthew Tupper
Rhona Pavis 50+
Mary M. 100+
You are outrageous Rhona!!!
Rhona Pavis 50+
Mary M. 100+
Still, it was a good laugh...your dry wit always brings a roaring laugh from me.
Happy Sunday!!!
Rhona Pavis 50+
Tofig Ahmed 500+
Comment deleted
Mary M. 100+
Doctors and their families are probably wore out after 20-30 years of practice....Kind of like teachers, or firemen, or policemen.....
To tell you the truth, I have never run into a retired doctor.
I imagine they grow old and tired, just like the rest of us.
I imagine that after they retire, they also get sick and spend much of their time as patients.
All your ideas are fantastic....I loved the "Help Create best practices in medicine..."
In the long run, it is their choice, like it is for everyone.
Matthew, I do understand the reason you asked this question.....thank you.
Matthew Tupper
Mary M. 100+
And, thank you for the clarification of your question below.
I think that school systems could benefit from having a doctor on site once a week. Don't you? There used to be nurses in every school. Now there is nobody to care for ill children.
And, it is not that stressful. Maybe the drs. will even inspire future medical specialists.
What do you think of that idea?
Manish Kumar Aggarwal
In doing so they must have sacrificed many of their dreams and aspirations. Let we help them to revive on all that and live happily and complete their journey with peace and a sense of achievement.
To respect their knowledge and experience, it must be shared through different programs, events and providing them a writing assistant. They carry the legacy of knowledge and experience, let's respect it and their contribution.
With regards
The Mindfood Chef
Mohammed salah
timber maniac 20+
edward long 100+
Matthew Tupper
Lee Miller 10+
Matthew Tupper
And of course if they would like to retire and never work again they are more than entitled to. They have, as you say, earned it.
Heather White 10+
Issues around drink, drug abuse, sex and STD's, pregnancy, stress, the benefits of personal hygiene, self examination, a balanced diet and exercise to good health. When to use medical services and when not to dial 999 e.g. Help I've broken my fingernail! The killers of the future will stem from poor diet and infection.
Ghassan Mustafa
Brian Cerda
Robert Galway 20+
We do not own them, nor are they a national asset.
Perhaps a better question might be: "What should we offer people that have endured the stress of a medical career for enough years to retire that might make them want to continue to help the public in general in some different way that takes advantage of their skills?"
Another good question might be "How do we sweeten the deal for the top students to convince them to use their talents as medical doctors in some low paying public service job rather than a lucrative medical career?"
santiago rodriguez
Related to your second question - you can't possibly hope for this to happen when the education your parents give you aims towards making money, the education schools give you aim towards making money and the whole view of success by society is completely related to making money - WE NEED TO CHANGE THIS... how can we do it?
It's very hard since the people in power want the masses to work, fight, live and die for money, so the whole system is laid out in a way of distraction. How can you convince a kid to turn off the tv, the playstation, or whatever and grab a book? We are that kid... you can't really.
Matthew Tupper
I was thinking along the lines of what framework can we put in place to enable Doctors to keep making a contribution to the medical profession? I read on TED that in Mexico there has been an initiative to put in 'health booths' where patients can get basic medical care via video link. Perhaps this is the kind of initative that would also be very beneficial globally? And retired Doctors might be the best to offer this service. It would be a lot less stress, probably a lower work load and would enable a much greater coverage of high quality healthcare.
Anne Dagen 10+
Very few are 'drifting uselessly'. For those who desire retirement, they've earned it! For those who don't, let's do something about the age discrimination that excludes them from work they want to do.