- Learning a new skill.
- This could be something like learning point of care ultrasonography or a new procedural technique that your community needs but currently is unavailable. It could also include training on a novel technique or piece of equipment that’s at the cutting edge of your field. If you’re working on a proposal for a department or institution, this skill would improve the department in some way. Either you come back and can teach it to others in the department, or you can increase patient volumes with your new technique.
- Developing a new curriculum. This could include a curriculum for graduate or undergraduate education, or for other faculty members.
- Doing research at a different institution. This is a more traditional sabbatical for research-heavy physicians. It’s a great opportunity to make connections, meet researchers whose papers you’ve read for years, and learn first-hand how other institutions run their labs. This also may be possible in conjunction with some Fulbright fellowships, for example.
- To expose your kids to a different way of life
This is a common reason for going on sabbatical. Some people want to expose their kids to a culture from their heritage, and others want to generally introduce their kids to the vastness of the world and how other people live.
- To learn a language.
The language learning may be for your kids or for yourself. It’s so much easier to learn a language when you’re immersed and have to use it every day than it is by taking classes once a week. You and your kids will learn so much faster by living in a country with a different primary language and taking lessons or enrolling them in school there.
In a classroom, it takes 2200 hours to learn Chinese and 600 hours to learn Spanish; that means it would take 42 years taking an hour of Chinese a week but 5 years living in a Chinese-speaking location, assuming you speak or interact with the language 8 hours a day.
For Spanish, it would take 11.5 years of weekly one hour classes, or 1.5 years of living in a Spanish-speaking country.
- To avoid or recover from burnout.
Burnout is a huge issue for physicians, and is finally getting the attention it deserves. Some people can feel the burnout starting to creep up on them and know they need to take some time away in order to avoid decreasing the quality of care for their patients and the relationships with their families.
Others might be in the throes of burnout and feel desperate to make a change and stop practicing for a period of time to hopefully regain perspective and determine how medicine fits into their life goals, if at all.
Keep in mind that sabbaticals don’t have to involve a huge amount of world travel. Sabbaticals can involve taking time off clinical practice, gardening, and going for daily walks. If you’re burned out, don’t feel like you have to concoct a huge plan to take a sabbatical.
- To try a new career
Maybe you have a great idea for a business, device, or just want to try a different kind of work. Taking a sabbatical is a great way to frame this time so you don’t feel like you’re being forced to choose between your idea and medicine. Deciding that you’re going to take a sabbatical to work on a business feels very different than saying you’re changing careers and are never going to work as a doctor again.
- To focus on your family
Families often get pushed to the side during training, starting a new practice, and the inevitable pull of one more patient or one more case. You may look at your kids at dinner one night and decide you want to reconnect with them before they become adults. Taking a sabbatical is a way to fully focus your time and energy on your family.
- To volunteer for a cause
Whether you’re personally inspired to join, fundraise for, or even lead an organization, volunteering can provide a sense of mission and fulfillment that you may not have felt in medicine in a while, especially if you’re feeling burned out. That kind of passion is special and rare. If you can harness it to make a difference in the world during a sabbatical, you should go for it.
- To learn a new personal skill or accomplishment
This can encompass a huge variety of activities:
- Learning woodworking
- Learning meditation
- Training for an Ironman
- Climbing Mount Everest
- Learning an instrument
- Getting a pilot’s license
- Any activity you know you’ll be disappointed if you never get around to doing
- To try out retirement
I love the FIRE movement and think it’s great to have financial independence. But a lot of doctors might have some ambivalence about retiring early or stopping clinical practice. By taking a sabbatical, you have the flexibility to experience how life feels without clinical work, whether you enjoy it, and whether you’re ready for it. It may also help you fine tune how and where you eventually retire.
- To try out a new part of the world
You can travel around the US in an RV, or around the world. You can try to hit all the countries in the world or slow travel. Some people may want to audition a location to retire to. Some may want to spend a few months in Paris, or Egypt, or Buenos Aires. If a part of the world has been pulling you toward it for years, a sabbatical might be the perfect time to go.
What do you think? What’s your reason for wanting to go on sabbatical? What did I miss? Comment below!