Wrong Turns: What to Do When You Realize You Chose the Wrong Path

Every radiologist can name the career decisions that worked out. Almost nobody talks about the ones that did not. Peter S. Moskowitz, MD, a pediatric radiologist turned physician career coach, speaks with hosts Surbhi Raichandani, MD, and Sherry Wang, MBBS, about burnout, sunk costs, and what comes after a wrong turn. Listen to their discussion in episode 4 of Difficult Conversations, an AJR Podcast Series.

https://www.ajronline.org/doi/10.2214/AJR.26.36011

*Key Takeaways

The Second Career: A physician's primary job is clinical excellence, but a secondary job is active career self-management, which requires finding trusted mentors and being vulnerable enough to ask for help.

The 4 D's of Transition: Recognizing the need for a career pivot may begin with identifying William Bridges' four D's of transition endings: disengagement, disidentification, disenchantment, and disorientation.

Proactive "Protirement": True retirement planning or "protirement" should begin the first day of your first paying job, involving professional financial planners and your significant other to align your long-term vision.

*Chapters

0:00 - Welcome

3:51 - Tenure Setback and Toxic Practice

5:23 - Burnout to Coaching

6:58 - Return to Academia

8:44 -  Lessons From Career Transitions

12:29 -  Career Resilience

14:14 -  The Moment Burnout Hit

16:40 - Golden Handcuffs and Wrong Paths

19:42 - Why Burnout Happens

22:06 -  Greed and Leadership Voice

26:37 - Advice for Early Attendings

31:32 - How CPPR Coaching Works

34:17 - Protirement Plan Early

39:52 - Radiologist-Centered Imaging

43:08 - Wellness Progress and What Next

49:29 - AI Efficiency Burnout Myth

55:52 - One Sentence Advice and Takeaways

59:00 -  Closing

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*These sections were generated using artificial intelligence (Descript and Google Gemini) and then reviewed for accuracy.