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Shaping Your Career to Maximize Personal Satisfaction in the Practice of Oncology

Tait Shanafelt, Harold Chung, Heather White, Laurie Jean Lyckholm

From the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Rochester, MN; Department of Hematology/Oncology & Palliative Care, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA; and Physicians East Hematology Oncology, Greenville, NC.

Address reprint requests to Tait Shanafelt, MD, Mayo Clinic, 200 First St, SW, Rochester, MN 55905; e-mail: Shanafelt.tait{at}mayo.edu

The practice of oncology can be a source of both great satisfaction and great stress. Although many oncologists experience burnout, depression, and dissatisfaction with work, others experience tremendous career satisfaction and achieve a high overall quality of life. Identifying professional goals, optimizing career fit, identifying and managing stressors specific to practice type, and achieving the optimal personal work–life balance can increase the likelihood of individual oncologists' achieving personal and professional satisfaction. In this article, we will explore how oncologists can accomplish these tasks and will examine several pervasive professional myths that often distort perspective. The article concludes in a conversation with four oncologists regarding what they find most meaningful about their work, how they manage career-specific stressors, and how they achieve balance between their personal and professional lives.

Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and author contributions are found at the end of this article.

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