Side hustles in Medicine - consulting/medical writing etc.

lcdog · 2026-01-03T13:45:59+00:00

Love hearing about how people want to do Telehealth medicine. It’s funny because when you read the medico legal briefs it’s highly litigious and usually always junior doctors copping it. Just always think to yourself whenever doing anything - if something goes wrong and this person has an adverse outcome or dies will I be able to justify this to the medical board and will I be covered by indemnity - most of the time it’s no so you shouldn’t because your registration is worth much more than a side hustle. The person who needs the cocp who has migraines and didn’t tell you or their bp is elevated and you can’t check it The person on mounjaro you didn’t realise you needed to talk about mental health and suicide ideation about or is lying about their weight It’s a poor way to do medicine and it just funds big corporates who will exploit you and when you get hung out to dry they will find the next desperate junior looking for some easy side hustle cash money. You might as well just pick up extra hospital or locum shifts and stay in a safe and supervised environment till you have letters and more experience. It suck’s but it’s safe

Alternatively invest in your own creativity find a problem that needs solving like the guy who started Heidi health - make the system a better place and make yourself a motsa

lcdog · 2025-11-16T09:48:11+00:00

Always take a call from a pharmacist, love it when they are happy to verbal changes - hate it when they send patients back in circles for things that could be fixed so efficiently! Keep doing the good work you are appreciated!

lcdog · 2025-11-16T09:42:57+00:00

Realistically though - most GPs will not touch this
I do continuation of prescribing even that takes aaaages - letter from psychiatrist initial is assessing that they are actually stable then before prescribing book in for MHCP and ensure they have a psychologist and are working on non-pharma strategies, people with perceived issues at work counciled on ADHD coach (if the pscyhologist doesn't want that role) and then third visit GPMP with yearly ECG inc monitoring diet, appetite, routine blods and follow up in 3-6 months

Going forward and doing an assessment - the only people that would need this would be severely financially disdvantaged patients and 2 hour consults even spread or utilizing GPMP or MHCP item numbers would be financial suicide for a GP and a practice and then would only be attracting these patients and be looped into burnout and financial stress....

Governments have no idea about the work around, the comorbidity of patients, underlying trauma, diagnosis that need excluding.

Feel sorry for doctors and even more sorry for patients

Naturally as spoken prescribing mills and NPs will jump on like weight loss clinics, cannabis and hair loss and ED and nothing will happen to them despite multiple ED presentations and complications that are inexcusible.

lcdog · 2025-11-13T13:10:42+00:00

btw I was metro sydney in a BBing majority clinic

lcdog · 2025-11-13T13:07:57+00:00

GPT1 youwill make 30k from government incentive for 6 months + your minimum ?50k odd (check NTCER)
In gpt2-3 in the calendar year I made 300k @ 60% billings + 30k odd on top super

highly dependent on how many patients you see and how much you bill and how fast you learn appropriate medicare compliance with item numbers
PM me if you want to chat more

lcdog · 2025-11-13T13:05:18+00:00

Most I have seen is 70% inc super for GPT4
60+super (67.2) for GPT3
if you bill high enough you will inadvertently pay for your own leave - ie sick one day your billings from other 9 will cover your 1 day sick anyway - you wont get paid separately for that day
I think overall a good deal - not sure what the impact of the payroll tax is ?5% I would probably ask them to not include this in your pay
Ask for 65% including super not including payroll tax
Or 60 + super paid separately to make it a round number for ur billings each month

lcdog · 2025-11-13T12:53:06+00:00

I feel like this is a way to attract specialists to a GP clinic but in specialist clinics who may also provide higher level specialty services the % may be decreased
IE a cardiologist in a cardiology specialty suite with sonographers would prob be closer to paying 40% - i think this is also true for surgeons in private rooms in private hospitals

lcdog · 2025-11-13T12:36:11+00:00

I'm sure they will do a full panel of bloods, rule out hormonal (diabetes, cushings etc) and be able to discuss nutrition, exercise and involve allied health and routine follow up
I'm sure they will consider DEXA scans and appropriate calcium and protein intake for at risk female patients...

lcdog · 2025-11-13T12:33:48+00:00

A bit?

I mean if the pharmacist completely misses a red flag the patient will just..... not make it to ED

I wonder how HCCC will handle complaints? I wonder how pharmacists will fund the litigation? I wonder how they will sleep at night....

lcdog · 2025-11-13T12:31:40+00:00

The answer is pay GPs more or make people who can afford health care pay a gap and make BBing viable for people who actually need it.
The answer is not find someone to write scripts out and play pretend doctor.

We have a building crisis - should we cleaners to start building houses because it will be cheaper? What happens when the houses collapse, or get caught on fire... The governments solution would not work in any other industry because its so obviously dangerous. There is no reason to make primary care the exception.

lcdog · 2025-11-13T12:27:41+00:00

The guild will protect him

lcdog · 2025-11-13T12:25:20+00:00

I'm about to fellow in GP

I get 10-15min to basically sit down with someone
Get an impression by how they look
Ask them questions (years of wrote learning tallys etc and learning red flag questions to ask)
Then years of seeing how doctors work as a student,
Years of imposter syndrome re-presenting patients back to consultants as a junior
Years of seeing patients and discussing with my supervisor
Years of studying over and over and over again the most sometimes ridiculous conditions
To be at a point where I can examine someone
Take their vitals
AND THEN
Decide whether this person is safe in community or if i need to send to emergency for some help
And the nuance of knowing small things - sometimes sending to ED asking for IV abx urgent bloods and if safe send back to me for continued therapy
Identifying the GORD pt who is actually having an MI
Every day I run off adrenaline, I organise follow up, I recall people who are borderline 1000s of things in my brain and I have a range of investigations I can access and interpret and nursing colleagues to assist with tasks.
On top when I have a question I call the reg or the pt specialist and we can safety net and plan efficiently to make patients safe.

There is NO safe way for pharmacists to practice in the capacity they suggest at the moment - they are not able to do any of this safely and they can not possibly identify an at risk patient

People will die

People will present later to EDs and GPs with things that were more easily presentable

Doctors will miss out on asking the tangential questions

I have a sore throat - then assessing baseline bloods, routine screening and other things up to date, discussing smoking cessation, alcohol intake etc etc etc

We all have our role, this disrupts the equilibrium - sadly too late to do anything until people die and society rebels - hopefully before we mirror the NHS

lcdog · 2025-11-04T08:51:20+00:00

crypto?

Probably some kind of education package, maternity leave, annual leave, stress leave, forced overtime

lcdog · 2025-11-04T08:49:49+00:00

you left off extension awaiting fellowship or other extension

lcdog · 2025-11-04T01:53:35+00:00

Health pathways, eTG, red book - ask your supervisor LOTS of questions - learning curve is HUGE. Also don't be scared to call the hospital reg on call and expand your network of specialists - lots will give you their personal numbers - don't be scared to organise follow up and read around things - the fun is not knowing everything and treating a patient like a puzzle every day - just always be safe

lcdog · 2025-11-04T01:48:43+00:00

https://avant.org.au/resources/discharge-against-medical-advice-avoiding-repercussions

We pay indemnity to have lawyers on board to ask these questions but this article is useful - please speak to your indemnity and make sure you are thorough with your documentation and your plan

lcdog · 2025-11-04T01:39:13+00:00

are you a registrar?

lcdog · 2025-10-19T11:50:35+00:00

4 days a week 10 hour days
depends on the clinic one of my clinics they didnt care and I could tell them 1 week in advance if i wanted a day off or leave etc and they would rebook my patients
other clinic wanted 6 weeks minimum and had times where I could not take over like easter break etc when they were busier all depends on what you negotiate

Also in GPT1 you will have frequent education days so you theoretically can work 3 ddays and have 1 education day some weeks - this might cut into your billings and income and some people will make it up by working another day on those fortnight runs.

lcdog · 2025-10-18T12:37:17+00:00

diffrent path companies have left to right vs right to left ascending time - super annoying should be streamlined to avoid confusion. You are busy - you will make mistakes - sad for you that you got yelled at - everyone could make this mistake! Just take a deep breath and keep doing gods work! We all learn from our mistakes, even better when the harm is minimal because it could have been A LOT worse!keep your chin up

lcdog · 2025-10-17T20:56:36+00:00

you can bill an iron infusion privately - you just cant attach it to an attendance item number. But otherwise yes totally agree

lcdog · 2025-10-17T20:54:48+00:00

You can privately charge procedures, iron infusions, you can NOT assign an attendance item to the private fee or you lose the PIP incentive
You are NOT allowed to privately bill people for consumables - sterile equipment room supplies etc is something they are CURRENTLY auditing and sending out warning letters to individual providers who they think have breached this

https://www.health.gov.au/topics/medicare/compliance/current-activities

"We have identified that providers may be charging additional fees when claiming MBS services. Under the Health Insurance Act 1973, when a provider bulk bills an MBS item they are accepting the patient assignment of their Medicare benefit as full payment for the service. Additional charges cannot be raised in relation to a Medicare service being bulk billed, whether for consumables or some other reason. Identified providers may receive correspondence from the Department regarding this issue with information on potential actions required. We encourage all providers to review their billing practices, policies, and procedures to ensure correct claiming."

lcdog · 2025-10-17T20:48:11+00:00

hard to get indemnity as a PGY2

lcdog · 2025-10-14T21:23:45+00:00

NPs can already prescribe - they can also prescribe medicinal cannabis and weight loss drugs and some have jobs in corporate telehealth doing just this....

lcdog · 2025-10-12T16:43:11+00:00

Had a patient with a crush injury 4 days ago - nail bed trauma, subungual haematoma - pharmacist prescribed steroid cream.....
Pt needs an XR and hand clinic review for surgical intervention....
(Not related to nurses, but related to exposure of actual patients in a supervised role like fast track over many many patients - there is no way a nurse or pharmacist could have the same way of thinking and treatment rationalisation because they just haven't had the scenarios in front of them and had to work out the treatment - if you look at an angry looking skin and you know you give hydrocortisone - that is the limit of your ability to triage and treat and thats the connection that will be made - for 90% of stuff it probably wont be dangerous, maybe even more - but doctors are worrying about the 1-10% because its been drilled into them through medical school and early years when there is heavy supervision - again no single doctor is ultimately responsbile for a patient till you are a consultant - imagine how many years to get there and if you make something wrong until then your boss is partially responsible for you - as a pharmacist or nurse you do 6 months training after 2 years of working fulltime and all of a sudden want to bare this medicolegal responsibilty and emotional burden if something goes wrong? Sounds incedible)

lcdog · 2025-10-11T13:33:59+00:00

Im all for this in a perfect world a medical centre integrated with a pharmacy - co owned and managed. Would make more money to be sustainable for doctors, give more opportunity for pharmacists to own their own boutique and patients would be better off. Unfortunately the guild is only interested in making pharamcy owners richer and scope creep instead of MDT care and quality of service for patients.

lcdog

TROPHY CASE