Do you want to get in or get out?

When it comes to being part of Sickcare USA, some want out and others want in.

Various factors are driving physicians and nurses to leave their jobs — or the healthcare field altogether —?including burnout, increased stress and higher-paying job opportunities. Here are four statistics that illustrate the prevalence or risk of these departures.

1. Nearly 17 percent of nursing leaders said they are considering leaving the profession, marking a 116 percent increase since February, according to a?survey ?from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.

2. One in five physicians has considered leaving their current job to pursue nonclinical careers, according to Medscape's Physician Nonclinical Careers?Report ?2021 published Oct. 8.

3. Nearly 30 percent of registered nurses in the U.S. are at risk of leaving their organization nationally, according to a Sept. 30?analysis ?from Press Ganey.

4. About 18 percent of healthcare workers in the U.S. have quit their jobs since February 2020, according to a small?survey ?from Morning Consult, a global privately held data intelligence company.

It’s becoming increasingly common for workers to switch industries,?according to LinkedIn’s latest Workforce Report , which identifies the top fields attracting outsiders. Transportation and logistics ranks No. 1, with a 34.9% increase in people switching into the sector, followed by software & IT (+34.7%), corporate services (+30.7%), wellness & fitness (+30.4%) and real estate (+30%). For many of these industries, however, the talent flow goes both ways. Healthcare is attracting significant newcomers, while simultaneously experiencing a rising exodus of talent.?

You have all read about how COVID has contributed to burnout, morbidity and mortality of frontline healthcare professionals (HCPs) and widened the existing gaps in a dysfunctional, inequitable system of systems.

The result has been HCPs retiring early, seeking guidance from coaches or looking for non-clinical side gigs or careers in entirely new industries, like sales and marketing, financial services or investing.

But, in the midst of all this chaos, the number of applicants to medical schools is at an all time high and non-healthcare professionals, like technologists, data scientists, those who used to work in biopharma or big device or other industries and then tried something else are increasingly interested in getting back into the mix. The problems for those who want to get out or those who want to get in are similar in several ways:

1. Overcoming the barriers to re-entry
2. Building new networks
3. Understanding new ecosystems
4. Being accepted into a different tribe
5. Learning how to communicate in a new language
6. Building a different mindset
7. Living in a different culture
8. Accepting new risks
9. Different priorities at different stages of life
10. Generational clashes
11. Reskilling or transfer learning
12. Financial sacrifices

More and more, those who have had non-medical careers are interested in working in it for many reasons including seeing the big opportunities to improve it and deriving meaning from their work.

Creating your own business is one way. These are some of the reasons why non-sickcare entrepreneurs fail in sickcare.

Using transferable skills is another. Here are some tips on how to do that. High demand sickcare company skills include:

1. Sales and marketing and business development
2. Communications
3. Team building
4. Data and analytics
5. Project management
6. Customer service
7. Product development
8. Finance
9. Entrepreneurship
10. Operations management
11. Corporate governance and risk management
12. Accounting and tax avoidance

Here is your guide to non-clinical careers.

Whether you want to get out or get (back) in takes education, resources, networks, mentors, experience, peer to peer support and career guidance. The door to opportunity swings both ways but there are relatively few people along the way to guide you . There is no clear roadmap, only clues on the treasure map.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs