Many surgeons want to extend their careers as they near retirement age, often by cutting back on their work hours. A reduced schedule allows them time to engage in other activities like continuing education, which helps them learn about new techniques in their field. NexGen Surgical offers surgeons a unique opportunity to continue their education while maintaining their income and working fewer hours.
Importance of Continuing Education
Continuing education is vital for helping surgeons retain their existing skills and learn new techniques. It can also give them greater satisfaction in caring for their patients, causing them to gradually transition to a slower pace in their practice instead of suddenly retiring.
In addition, continuing education is required to remain certified to practice surgery, as in most healthcare jobs. These certifications must be renewed regularly, although the exact requirements depend on location and surgical specialty.
Rapid advancements in surgery ensure that technologies and best practices are constantly changing, requiring continuing education to provide the best care for patients. Continuing education presents opportunities for personal fulfillment and professional advancement by allowing you to pursue new specializations.
Options for Continuing Education
The options for obtaining continuing education generally include attending conferences, formal education and mentoring.
Attending medical conferences is the most traditional way to remain current on your field’s latest research and advancements. In-person attendance was the primary method of earning Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in medicine for decades, although remote methods are replacing it. Today, accredited online courses and live webinars are an increasingly popular way to earn CEUs. They allow surgeons to train at their own pace without the disruption of travel and absence from work that conferences require.
Bear in mind that CEU courses must be accredited and administered by a state-approved provider to receive CE. Most states and healthcare disciplines consider live webinars to be the same as in-person conferences as far as CE credit goes, as long as the provider is approved. However, the specific requirements differ by state, so you must check with your state licensing board to ensure you’ll receive credit for a webinar. You also need to participate in a live webinar in a way that simulates in-person attendance. For example, you’ll typically need to attend the webinar for its full duration, get a passing score and complete the participant survey.
Formal education includes advanced degrees and certifications, typically used to gain new knowledge rather than refresh existing skills. Mentoring involves teaching less experienced surgeons in an informal setting, which can be a more efficient way of training surgeons. In addition, it helps experienced surgeons extend their careers by allowing them to transition from surgery to teaching. The residency model was the primary mentoring method during the 20th century, but recent changes in healthcare strictly limit the time surgeons can spend on duty. Furthermore, the increasing specialization in surgery makes group residency programs less practical.
Benefits of Joining NexGen
NexGen Surgical offers surgeons an alternative to the traditional retirement approach of suddenly ceasing their practice. Our surgeons typically work two weeks out of each month and are not on call during the rest of the month, providing a healthier work-life balance. We can customize a surgical schedule that meets your lifestyle goals, ensuring you have time for other activities like continuing education and hobbies.
Surgeons who only want to work part-time are naturally concerned about a loss of earnings. However, NexGen Surgical offers highly competitive pay that allows them to leave a busy practice without taking a pay cut. NexGen’s model also eliminates the need to relocate or spend time on administrative issues like billing, payroll, insurance and staffing. We run the back office, so you can spend more time delivering patient care, learning new skills or just spending time away from your practice.
How NexGen Can Help
Continuing education is essential for surgeons to extend their careers, as it allows them to refresh their skills and expand into new specialties that would otherwise be unavailable to them. NexGen Surgical assists surgeons who want additional training by providing them with a schedule that allows more time for professional development without reducing their income. The greater flexibility of this schedule enables surgeons to maintain a healthier balance between their practice and personal lives, which is often the primary reason for seeking retirement.
Joining the NexGen team provides surgeons more time to pursue options for continuing education, whether attending conferences in person, receiving mentoring or obtaining another degree. As a result, our surgeons can continue practicing while still undergoing the training they want.
Contact us online or call 844-592-0802 today to learn more about transitioning to part-time surgery!
