A Second Act: How 'Retired' Radiologists Can Help Ease Workforce Demands
Post-retirement opportunities let radiologists remain engaged, sometimes relieving the stress for active radiologists
As academic radiologists face growing clinical demands, retired radiologists are finding ways to stay engaged while helping ease their colleagues’ burden.
Radiologists like Robert A. Older, MD, are aware of the workforce shortage in the profession. He sees an opportunity for retired radiologists like himself to contribute their expertise by teaching trainees, either in-person or remotely.
“I think the primary benefit for active radiologists in this scenario is a reduced demand on their time for classroom-type teaching,” Dr. Older said. “Retired radiologists can handle the larger lectures and allow active radiologists to deal with the heavier clinical workload and more focused clinical teaching.”
A professor emeritus of radiology and a retired professor of urology at the University of Virginia (UVA) Medical Center in Charlottesville, Dr. Older also serves as an adjunct professor of urology at Wake Forest Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC.
“When retired radiologists provide training, it also gives the residents a different perspective on certain topics from another expert,” he noted. “Personally, it provides the opportunity to continue doing what I like and has allowed me to feel like I am continuing to contribute to the education of residents and medical students.”
Dr. Older has held remote conferences for urology trainees at UVA and at Wake Forest Medical Center, as well as in-person conferences for radiology residents at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He explained how these opportunities came about.
“These lectures were given in person from 2015 to 2017. At that time, a radiologist at Wake Forest had a very heavy clinical workload and was glad to have me do several of the noon-time scheduled lectures in his specialty, which was of course my area of expertise
Building on those early opportunities, Dr. Older now holds approximately 20 conferences a year. “This is a comfortable number for me, as I have accumulated a large amount of digital teaching material, but it also does require keeping up with current radiologic concepts and adding material as needed,” Dr. Older said.
Cases, Compensation and Compliance
Before completely retiring two years ago, David M. Einstein, MD, a former radiologist at the Cleveland Clinic and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center, performed remote interpretation of cases without trainees and on-site supervision of radiology residents. “I had worked at Cleveland Clinic for over 25 years and had been the program director for 14 of those years, so I had a strong connection to the training program,” he said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Einstein worked with UCSD residents via teleradiology and continued to teach via teleradiology even after the pandemic had abated. “This was partially due to a lack of available workstations in the hospital, making it easier to work with the residents remotely,” he said.
Despite the convenience and ongoing use of teleradiology, Dr. Einstein emphasized the value of in-person teaching. “I think it is great for retired radiologists to read remotely, but as a resident advocate for my entire career I prefer in-person teaching of residents and fellows,” Dr. Einstein asserted. “This still allows retired radiologists to participate in the cities that they reside in if there is a local residency program in need.”
He added that retired radiologists reading studies help onsite radiologists by decompressing clinical interpretation lists and giving them more time to work with trainees.
Dr. Older advises retired radiologists interested in teaching to check with their local state medical board if they have an inactive medical license. He also recommends they contact their medical malpractice insurance company about any limitations on medical activity.
According to Dr. Einstein, institutions interested in working with retired radiologists should offer a competitive salary, as they often are able to read more studies than the full-time faculty due to their years of experience.
“Resident evaluations can often be a source of positive feedback and motivation to the retirees,” Dr. Einstein added. “Leadership in the departments should determine if the retired radiologist is interested in working with trainees, or just decompressing the work lists, and tailor their position accordingly.”
“Resident evaluations can often be a source of positive feedback and motivation to the retirees. Leadership in the departments should determine if the retired radiologist is interested in working with trainees, or just decompressing the work lists, and tailor their position accordingly.”
“Resident evaluations can often be a source of positive feedback and motivation to the retirees. Leadership in the departments should determine if the retired radiologist is interested in working with trainees, or just decompressing the work lists, and tailor their position accordingly.”
— DAVID M. EINSTEIN, MD
Navigating Late-Career Transitions and Planning for Retirement
Phyllis Glanc, MD, a radiology professor at the University of Toronto and an associate scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto, is part of a group of physicians from various specialties looking at transitions in practice for physicians who are contemplating or moving toward retirement. This group is supported by the University of Toronto.
“There is a great deal to consider when a physician plans for and transitions to retirement,” Dr. Glanc said. “Our committee arranges around seven interactive sessions each year on topics related to this process.”
According to Dr. Glanc, the committee’s focus is related to expanding and sharing what she referred to as the “echo career” opportunities. “An echo career enables a physician to leverage their prior skills and experience, thus permitting work-related opportunities such as providing medical expertise to company boards, surgical assistance, fundraising, medicolegal work, editorial activities, mentoring and teaching in addition to part-time onsite or remote work opportunities,” she said.
“These roles benefit retired physicians by keeping them engaged and intellectually active,” Dr. Glanc added. “They can support trainees by providing additional guidance and supervision and use their knowledge and experience to enhance patient care.”
At the same time, she acknowledged the importance of planning leisure activities and hobbies to gradually fulfil needs for social contacts and community engagement. “In doing so, one progressively completes the transition to retirement,” she said.
Together these examples show how retired radiologists can continue to make meaningful contributions to education, patient care and the profession even after leaving full-time practice.
“Whether delivering classroom lectures—most commonly the ‘noon conference’—mentoring trainees or contributing through teleradiology, retired radiologists help lighten the workload for practicing radiologists and free up time for case work and personalized resident instruction,” Dr. Older said. “Such involvement benefits both current practitioners and retirees, as it allows retired radiologists to maintain an active and fulfilling role within the field.”
For More Information
Access the Radiology special report, “The Growing Nationwide Radiologist Shortage Current Opportunities and Ongoing Challenges for International Medical Graduate Radiologists.”
Read the RSNA Member Spotlight about retired radiologist Harry Agress Jr., MD.
Read previous RSNA News stories on career pathways in radiology: