Becoming a Medical Science Liaison: A Clinician's Guide of What to Expect (Part 2 of 3)
In my last post, I attempted to ease clinicians' initial concerns about joining pharma as a medical science liaison (MSL). I pointed out that making a career move to pharma is not equivalent to joining the "Dark Side." However, making a career move to pharma does not come without compromises. This article will highlight some advantages and disadvantages of leaving clinical practice and the pigeonhole of your clinical career.
While I am not aware of any research to back this up, it is hard to imagine any private industry career choice that is more pigeonholing than becoming a healthcare clinician. Think about it. To become a trained clinician, you go to a professional school to learn a defined and relatively limited set of skills. You may then go on to additional postgraduate training and board certification to further narrow your skills. You get licensed in your profession in a state that determines what you can and cannot do within your scope of practice.
Additionally, there are requirements from accrediting agencies and payers that decide who can perform certain patient care services. Yes, this training and oversight are necessary to ensure that qualified professionals perform their roles in patient care safely and effectively. No one wants their family practitioner performing their cardiac bypass surgery.
Fortunately, most clinicians are happy doing the same thing, day in and day out, throughout their careers. If we ever need the services of a surgeon, it is refreshing to know they have lots of experience performing the procedure. Though, for some of us, there comes a time when we realize the career choices we made in our 20s are not what we want to do for the next 30 years. This realization often comes mid-career. After 20 years in clinical practice, making a significant career move is difficult and risky. Before doing so, you must consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of leaving the clinical pigeonhole.
So, what are some advantages and disadvantages of leaving the pigeonhole of being a clinician, and how are they different in pharma?
Reason #1: Job security
One of the advantages of being a clinician is better job security relative to other professions. That said, the COVID pandemic did expose some gaps in job security for clinicians. Some people got furloughed when high-revenue generating procedures were temporarily halted due to COVID. However, once high-revenue procedures restarted, clinicians were brought back. Per regulations, only nurses can do certain things; only pharmacists can do certain things; only physicians can do certain things. These regulations serve as a buffer to protect employment. In most corporate jobs, including pharma, employment is not protected by licenses or regulations. Job security is one disadvantage of joining pharma. It is rare to meet someone that has spent their pharma career at the same company. Layoffs are not an issue of "if," but more a matter of "when." The Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA) reports that the average tenure for an MSL is two years. They assert that this may be the shortest tenure of any career across all private industries. There are several reasons for this short tenure, all of which are not necessarily bad. This possible short tenure highlights the need for MSLs to keep an up-to-date CV, build strong networks, and leverage services like LinkedIn. If you have spent most of your career as a clinician, you've likely not had to develop the skillset to make a job move with short notice.
Reason #2: Career growth and mobility
A mentor once told me I would have difficulty becoming a hospital CEO simply because I was a pharmacist. Pharmacists are often stereotyped as obsessive-compulsive, too detail-oriented, and unable to "see the forest for the trees." These are not the ideal traits of a hospital CEO. While my mentor knew I did not fit the stereotype of a pharmacist, too many people in the industry would still perceive me that way. While many clinicians have transitioned to become successful hospital CEOs, MHA graduates fill most hospital executive leadership positions.
Let's say you are a hospital or retail pharmacist in an average city in America. There are likely two or three health systems and retail chains that can utilize your skills. Having limited employer options leaves you limited options for a career change unless you uproot your family and move across the country every few years. MSL jobs are territory-based. That means any pharma company that includes your hometown in a territory is a potential employer. While writing this article, I did a quick LinkedIn search for MSLs with my state included in the territory. At least 50 unique options were available. If you have to or want to change positions, many more options are available. Another advantage brought on by the COVID pandemic is that many of the traditional "In-House" pharma jobs are now available to do remotely. There has never been a better time for MSLs to gain experience in other roles in pharma and not have to move to New Jersey, California, or any other hub for pharma companies.
There are many more advantages and disadvantages of leaving the clinical pigeonhole for a job in pharma. There is no way to cover them all in one article. I did not even touch on things such as salary earning potential and lifestyle changes. My point in this article was to highlight that leaving clinical practice for an MSL job does not come without compromises. Some of these compromises may be things you have never considered. As clinicians, we have been very focused and mainly worked in a bubble. The corporate world is very different than the provider side of healthcare.
If you spend enough years in pharma, you will inevitably work with a colleague that belongs in the Eighth Circle of Hell. In the last article of this series, I hope to offer insight into the skillset necessary to manage these challenging professional relationships successfully.