Traveling for work (in my non-clinical career)

There are times when I often think about the pros and cons of traveling for work. Practicing physicians generally don't fly around too much for work-related travel, but physicians who choose to leave the world of clinical medicine to work full-time in the business sector of health care are often traveling and collecting frequent flyer miles. In many ways, I'm glad that work-related travel has decreased for me. It was never too much in the first place, but now it's even less. Some people really enjoy work-related travel. It's nice to eat out and sleep in a comfortable hotel bed, but I'd rather spend time with my wife and kids.

If you're a physician and you're considering a full-time non-clinical career, then you can probably expect to travel quite a bit. I know some physicians who are traveling almost every week. They're hardly ever at home. Would you be happy if you were living out of a suitcase?

Later this week, I'll be in New Orleans for the Alliance for CME annual conference. This is a meeting that I attend every year. Last year, the meeting was in San Francisco and I took a red-eye flight back home so that I could spend a portion of the weekend with my family.