Nearly 40% of physicians surveyed say they’re working a side gig
About 39% of physicians reached via a recent survey said they are working a side gig, according to new data from Medscape released on Thursday.
On average, physicians earned $34,000 from their extra job, with higher tallies for male doctors ($40,000) compared to women ($26,000). The number represents a notable jump from last year’s survey, when physicians earned an average of $25,300 from their side gig.
“Interestingly,” Medscape noted, doctors age 60 or older were about as likely to have an extra job (at 37%) when compared to peers in their 30s (34%).
“I think COVID was a slap in the face” leading to this trend, John Shufeldt, MD, a Phoenix emergency physician who advises doctors on entrepreneurship, told the website. “A lot of physicians fell victim to COVID and a lot of us retired from that high-burnout time in healthcare. People need an outlet…and decided not to be a one-trick pony.”
The findings are derived from a survey of 1,939 physicians across nearly 30 specialties, including about 60 radiologists. Medscape conducted the brief online survey between February and May, offering respondents who filled out all questions a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card.
About 28% of physicians said they find their side gig to be more fulfilling than their full-time job, versus 22% who did not and 49% who labeled them as equal. The most commonly held second jobs in the healthcare field included medical consulting (25%), serving as an expert witness (18%), medical moonlighting (17%), chart review (15%) and speaking engagements (14%). Outside of medicine, real estate (18%), business or other consulting (17%), investing (15%), teaching (13%) and writing (9%) were most popular.
Asked why doctors commonly pursued extra work, money was the most common reason at 53%, far outpacing other answers that included “purely for fun” (10%), “develop my skills” (10%) or building a second career for medical retirement (10%).
Medscape highlighted that side gig time demands have risen roughly 31% (from 16 hours per month) when compared to last year’s report.
“All of the physicians I know who work side gigs hope to turn their side hustle into their primary hustle at some point,” Shufeldt said. “They expect an increasing return on their investment and to eventually be able to go part-time practicing medicine.”
Read the rest of the findings from Medscape here:
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.