Thirty-nine percent of physicians surveyed in a new report said they have a side gig going, usually to earn some additional money.
The report, released Oct. 12, is from Medscape and asked physicians who work side gigs to answer questions related to the what and why of those hustles. It is based on a survey of 1,939 physicians across more than 29 specialties, conducted from Feb. 1 to May 10.
Fifty-three percent of survey respondents (versus 48% in last year's report) indicated that additional money was the primary motivation behind a side gig. Ten percent said "purely for fun," 10% said "use/develop my skills," and 10% said "build a second career for medical retirement."
When asked what they love or loathe in their side hustle, physicians had varying responses. One said: "As an expert witness, I try to use my experience … to educate jurors and attorneys about the difficulties involved delivering safe, effective anesthesia."
Another said: "I want to keep and use computer skills as a possible job when I am no longer doing clinical work — which is different from no longer doing medicine."
The most popular side gigs outside of medicine were real estate (18%) and business or other consulting (17%). Medical consulting (25%) and expert witness (18%) were the most popular side gigs in the medical field.
Read more about the report here.