Wrong Turns: What to Do When You Realize You Chose the Wrong Path

Every radiologist can name the career decisions that worked out. Almost nobody talks about the ones that did not. Peter S. Moskowitz, MD, a pediatric radiologist turned physician career coach, speaks with hosts Surbhi Raichandani, MD, and Sherry Wang, MBBS, about burnout, sunk costs, and what comes after a wrong turn. Listen to their discussion in episode 4 of Difficult Conversations, an AJR Podcast Series. https://www.ajronline.org/doi/10.2214/AJR.26.36011 *Key Takeaways The Second Career: A physician's primary job is clinical excellence, but a secondary job is active career self-management, which requires finding trusted mentors and being vulnerable enough to ask for help. The 4 D's of Transition: Recognizing the need for a career pivot may begin with identifying William Bridges' four D's of transition endings: disengagement, disidentification, disenchantment, and disorientation. Proactive "Protirement": True retirement planning or "protirement" should begin the first day of your first paying job, involving professional financial planners and your significant other to align your long-term vision. *Chapters 0:00 - Welcome 3:51 - Tenure Setback and Toxic Practice 5:23 - Burnout to Coaching 6:58 - Return to Academia 8:44 - Lessons From Career Transitions 12:29 - Career Resilience 14:14 - The Moment Burnout Hit 16:40 - Golden Handcuffs and Wrong Paths 19:42 - Why Burnout Happens 22:06 - Greed and Leadership Voice 26:37 - Advice for Early Attendings 31:32 - How CPPR Coaching Works 34:17 - Protirement Plan Early 39:52 - Radiologist-Centered Imaging 43:08 - Wellness Progress and What Next 49:29 - AI Efficiency Burnout Myth 55:52 - One Sentence Advice and Takeaways 59:00 - Closing Follow AJR on Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/ajr-radiology/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfFAYezkLMxJGMgIJLN0Dpg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajr_radiology/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ajr_radiology X: https://x.com/AJR_Radiology BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/ajrradiology.bsky.social Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ajr_radiology *These sections were generated using artificial intelligence (Descript and Google Gemini) and then reviewed for accuracy.