Practice Management

When Should You Give Up Your OD License?

By Diane Palombi, OD

Jan. 11, 2017

Do you think you’ll know when it’s time not to renew your optometric license? Even after retiring, many ODs, like me, decide to hold onto their license. But at a certain point, it may make sense to let it go.

Think about what’s most important in your life, what you most care about, and how much effort and time will be required to retain your license. Most importantly, think about whether you are able to give the patients you see, even on a part-time basis, your best attention and top-level expertise.

Keeping my license active gave me the option of doing freelance OD work, filling in at practices, but as I got older, I realized that keeping that option open was no longer important to me, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to do the continuing education necessary, not just to renew my license, but to stay at the top of my game in caring for patients.

So, this past October I decided not to renew my optometric license. The seeds had been planted even while I was still in practice. I found myself looking at articles in Review of Optometry and not knowing what the heck they were talking about.

What was worse was I really did not care to know. I would look at the new techy offices featured in Women in Optometry with no interest. Then I realized that perhaps I should think about hanging it up. I was not the best doctor for my patients if I had no desire to be current in my optometric knowledge. I liked ’80s and ’90s optometry, but those days were long gone.

When I retired I seriously thought I would try to find fill-in work, but then remodeling the house, babysitting my grandkids and my golf league became more important while I was in Missouri, where I have my primary residence, alongside my winter home in Florida. I did do my continuing education the first few years out of practice to retain my license in case I did want to do some optometric work. I even interviewed at a Lenscrafters Optique within walking distance from my home. However, I was secretly relieved when I was not contacted about any fill-in work.

I knew the handwriting was on the wall when I was more interested in learning how to shave strokes off my golf score than do my continuing education. The first year that I skipped learning anything, I was still in denial and thought I would just double up on my studying the second year of our license period. However that did not happen. When that license renewal card arrived in the mail, I knew what I had to do. In truth it was kind of a relief. I had no business examining patients anymore.

I talked to good friend, Gail Doell, OD, who graduated from optometry school with me, and retired a few years after me. These are her thoughts on leaving her practice: “My last license expired at the end of October. I never used it, but it hung by a magnet on my refrigerator, along with Dylan’s [her grandson] artwork. I think a profession is not a back-burner activity. I did not want to practice if I couldn’t do it very well. Patients deserve a doctor whose knowledge base is up to date. I hope I have given the best of myself professionally when I practiced, but I am no longer willing to put in the work and thought required to operate at that level. Absolutely no regrets! My life is great, a really charmed existence. Lucky me.”

She very eloquently described my thought process exactly. Patients deserve doctors at the top of their game. If this is not the case, we must be willing to gracefully walk away.

How will you know when it’s time not to renew your license? When you retire, will you retain your license for years, leaving open the opportunity to work part-time, or when you retire, will you completely retire, including letting your OD license go?

 

 

Diane Palombi, OD, retired now, is the former owner of Palombi Vision Center in Wentzville, Mo. To contact her: dlpod1@hotmail.com

 

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