How I Recovered from Physician Burnout—and Found a New Career After Emergency Medicine

Physician burnout is alarmingly common—49% of physicians reported it in Medscape’s 2024 survey, and emergency medicine physicians topped the list at 63%. In my last post, I shared how I found myself on the wrong side of that statistic. My burnout was multifactorial: career stagnation, compassion fatigue, administrative overload, the toll of night shifts, and the relentless volume of a typical ER shift all played a role.

So, what did I do about it?

I Realized I Needed Change

I’ve come to believe I have a kind of career-based attention deficit. I don’t like doing the same thing every day. That might be what drew me to emergency medicine in the first place. But even in the ER—where no two shifts are truly the same—the repetition eventually wore me down. Over time, it felt like déjà vu: the same complaints, the same stories, the same frustrations.

Looking back, I had already started seeing signs that I would eventually burnout of emergency medicine. It has been 30 years since I graduated from medical school. About midway through my ER career, I stepped away for a full five years to run a functional medicine clinic for children with autism—drawn to it after one of my sons was diagnosed. Although that was rewarding in its own way, I eventually returned to the familiarity and security of emergency medicine.

Before I originally left, I remember wondering whether I could really do emergency medicine for a full career. The break did me some good and I came back into it feeling refreshed, if not a little rusty. Not totally surprising, though, after another dozen years, that familiar itch resurfaced for me and I started looking for what was next.

What Helped Me Recover from Burnout

Here’s what worked—at least for me. Maybe something here will help you too.

1. Recognition: The first step was admitting there was a problem. I began to feel persistently down: I lost interest in things I normally enjoyed, had trouble sleeping, lacked energy, and felt a sense of dread before every shift. This isn't my normal outlook on life and there weren’t any significant external issues driving it—it all felt job-related and I had to face it head-on if I wanted things to change.

2. Reducing Shifts: Cutting back on my ER schedule was my first move. It helped… a little. But not enough. Even with fewer shifts, I still dreaded each one.

3. Trying Locums: I experimented with locums work in a few different critical access hospitals. The change in environment and pace was refreshing, but the travel demands and lower pay kept it from feeling like a long-term solution. Plus, it still felt like the same problems, just on a different scale and a different location.

4. Reinvesting in Outside Interests: Fortunately, emergency medicine—with its shift-based nature—has always left room for other interests. I’ve filled my cup over the years with exercise, hiking, music, and writing. But when those outlets stopped replenishing me, I knew the problem ran deeper. I was lucky to be in a financial position where I didn’t need to keep working full-time ER shifts to support my lifestyle. That gave me room to explore something more dramatic.

5. Making a Big Change: I let myself ask the question: What would life look like outside of medicine? Finance had long been a personal interest. I enjoyed learning about investing and portfolio strategy—it was the one thing that still got me out of bed in the morning. So, I leaned into that interest. I enrolled in a master’s program in finance and eventually earned my Certified Financial Planner® designation.

That decision changed everything.

Where I Am Now

I now split my time between emergency medicine and my new career as a financial planner for physicians. I only work a few ER shifts a month, and I actually enjoy them again. I have the flexibility to walk away entirely if I choose. But I plan to keep working in finance for at least another decade—not because I have to, but because I want to. We'll see how much longer I will stick with medicine. Knowing I don't have to just to preserve my financial security is freeing.

This shift didn’t happen by accident. It happened because of a series of good financial decisions I made earlier in my career and along the way in saving, investing, and living below my means. These gave me the freedom to make a change when I needed it most.

In my book, The Physician’s Path to True Wealth, I define true wealth as having control over your time and not being dependent on your job to maintain your lifestyle. True wealth gives options—and options are powerful.

What Can You Do?

Whether you’re currently burned out or not, I encourage you to make those financial decisions today that will give you options tomorrow. You never know when life will change for you and the flexibility will become very important. In the meantime, keep learning. Add new skills. Talk to others who have been there. And when the time comes, have the courage to take a different path if you need to.

You may not need a full career shift like I did—but even small adjustments can make a big difference. Because having the luxury to create options? That’s how I fixed my burnout, and I believe it will help you too.