Making the decision about when to retire is never easy. Cognitive and technical skills may decline with age, but judgment and the ability to interact with patients improve as physicians gain experience. Physicians also tend to pay little attention to financial concerns and also find themselves unprepared for retirement when the get older. This article addresses concerns regarding self-assessment of clinical skills as well as facilitating action when a clinician observes a colleague whose clinical skills are faltering.

The podcast features Barbara Schneidman, MD, MPH, from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology; Bob Hyland, MD, from St Michael's Hospital in Toronto, and Christopher Muth, MD, Fishbein Fellow at JAMA.

Learning Objectives: To understand the appropriate longevity of a physician’s career and how they should approach assessing their clinical skills as they age.

Article discussed in this episode: Is It Time to Retire?