Brief communication: physician interest in volunteer service during retirement

Baby boomers approaching retirement will include unprecedented numbers of physicians, many of whom want to remain productive.

To determine interest in health care-related volunteering during retirement among physicians trained to provide general medical care to adults.

Cross-sectional mailed survey conducted May through July 2006.

North Carolina.

910 physicians, 55 years of age or older, whose primary specialty involved direct, nonsurgical care of adults.

Current volunteerism and future interest in selected activities.

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.

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.

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.