Brief communication: physician interest in volunteer service during retirement.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Baby boomers approaching retirement will include unprecedented numbers of physicians, many of whom want to remain productive. OBJECTIVE: To determine interest in health care-related volunteering during retirement among physicians trained to provide general medical care to adults. DESIGN: Cross-sectional mailed survey conducted May through July 2006. SETTING: North Carolina. PARTICIPANTS: 910 physicians, 55 years of age or older, whose primary specialty involved direct, nonsurgical care of adults. MEASUREMENTS: Current volunteerism and future interest in selected activities. RESULTS: Of the respondents, 89.8% were male and 87.4% were white; 57.4% worked full-time, 21.7% worked part-time, and 21.0% were retired. Of current retirees, 37.1% expressed interest in volunteering. Areas of greatest interest were medical teaching, working in free medical clinics, and international care. Strong incentives included staying mentally active (67.3%) or involved in medicine (61.2%) and contributing to society (60.5%). Substantial barriers included concerns about malpractice (61.5%) and paperwork or bureaucracy (46.0%). The majority of respondents (66.7%) felt that lack of payment would not influence volunteering. LIMITATIONS: The 59% overall response rate and exclusion of unlicensed retired physicians limit study generalizability. The data were provided by self-response and could not be independently validated. CONCLUSION: Retired physicians are a potential source of manpower that could contribute to provision of health care, particularly in medical teaching and clinical care of underserved persons.