Working with DH

[JustRightKelly]

C turned in his 4th year schedule this week and has officially chosen the Family Medicine track. Obviously there's a lot between now and when he's practicing but my gears are already spinning. He's trying out some rural practice electives to see if it'd be something he'd like. I think he has a secret desire to be a "farm doc", delivering babies, making house calls, exchanging appointments for blueberries, etc. We've always wanted a large piece of land and many animals. The bus could live out it's life happily in the shade of a tree and I could finally have my own pottery studio and a herd of llamas.

Anyways, let me step away from this fantasy and ask my real questions. Any other FM families here? Does anyone work with their spouse whether it be at their practice, in the same hospital etc. Was this planned from the start or just a coincidence? If C does want his own (possibly rural) practice then I' want to be involved and want to know the best steps to starting to prepare for that now. I have a masters in Education but am willing to go back to school if need be but have no interest in becoming an RN. I'm thinking more on the management side. Again, this is all a long ways away but I think talking about it will help.

[medpedspouse]

PP is becoming harder and harder to maintain. However, that does not mean that your dream cannot happen. The good news is that there are many rural hospital districts out there that would be more than happy to pay for med school and even add a stipend if you choose to be their rural doc for X amount of years.

[Vanquisher]

Good luck! It's pretty much impossible now. That is, it's impossible if you want to be profitable enough to buy shampoo or tampons!

I ran (still do - gah, please end) DHs ortho practice for 5 years.

Solo practice is dying and not sustainable anymore.


Heidi

[diggitydot]

Have you ever worked with your dude?

I've known several different PP primary care doc/spouses who've worked together in that exact capacity. It's almost universally turned out baaaaaaaadly. There are only a couple I know (mostly here) where it wasn't a complete and utter disaster. I actually left a decent doc several years ago whose office was set up this way (wife was an MA who also ran the front office) because it was so poorly run and disorganized. It's a tough way to run a clinic.

My DH does rural primary care. Almost zero house calls. Patients give docs stuff and sometimes it's farm crap, but they don't self-pay for appointments with their produce.

[rufflesanddots]

The idea of working for/with my husband makes me twitch. You are a more patient woman than I...

[MrsK]

Our financial planner wants me to manage a private practice for DrK. I'm saying no way! Private practice is a risky venture, DrK wouldn't want me telling him what to do at work and I wouldn't want him to tell me what to do at all. It would be miserable.

[SoonerTexan]

You know, I actually think DH and I have the personalities to do it. We've said before we almost want to open up something someday for fun (not in medicine)

But there is no way I'd be willing to run a private practice. NFW

[WolfpackWife]

I really loved working in the same hospital/for the same hospital system has DH before we moved here. Commuted together, often ate lunch together, ran into each other in the halls, etc. Having to "report to" him...or something equally as precarious that he has a huge investment in like his private practice? Oh helllllllllllllll no. We'd never make it.