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- Title
Brief Communication: Physician Interest in Volunteer Service during Retirement.
- Authors
Sloane, Philip D.; Cohen, Lauren W.; Konrad, Thomas R.; Williams, Christianna S.; Schumacher, John G.; Zimmerman, Sheryl
- Abstract
Background: Baby boomers approaching retirement will include unprecedented numbers of physicians, many of whom want to remain productive. Objective: To determine interest in health care-related volunteering during retirement among physicians trained to provide general medical care to adults. Design: Cross-sectional mailed survey conducted May through July 2006. Setting: North Carolina. Participants: 910 physicians, 55 years of age or older, whose primary specialty involved direct, nonsurgical care of adults. Measurements: Current volunteerism and future interest in selected activities. Results: Of the respondents, 89.8% were male and 87.4% were white; 57.4% worked full-time, 21.7% worked part-time, and 21.0% were retired. Of current retirees, 37.1% expressed interest in volunteering. Areas of greatest interest were medical teaching, working in free medical clinics, and international care. Strong incentives included staying mentally active (67.3%) or involved in medicine (61.2%) and contributing to society (60.5%). Substantial barriers included concerns about malpractice (61.5%) and paperwork or bureaucracy (46.0%). The majority of respondents (66.7%) felt that lack of payment would not influence volunteering. Limitations: The 59% overall response rate and exclusion of unlicensed retired physicians limit study generalizability. The data were provided by self-response and could not be independently validated. Conclusion: Retired physicians are a potential source of manpower that could contribute to provision of health care, particularly in medical teaching and clinical care of underserved persons.
- Subjects
NORTH Carolina; SURVEYS; VOLUNTEER service; PHYSICIANS; MEDICAL care; RETIREMENT; MEDICAL social work
- Publication
Annals of Internal Medicine, 2008, Vol 149, Issue 5, p317
- ISSN
0003-4819
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.7326/0003-4819-149-5-200809020-00006