Dr. Hartigan recaps SWIU panel discussion on contract negotiation

In this video, Siobhan M. Hartigan, MD, recaps a panel discussion on contract negotiation from the Society of Women in Urology (SWIU) Annual Clinical Mentoring Conference, for which she served as a moderator. Hartigan is a urologist at Hunterdon Urological Associates in Flemington, New Jersey.

Video Transcript:

So, I moderated an excellent panel on contract negotiation. Our panelists were Dr. Libby Williams, who is in private practice in St. Louis. She's FPMRS trained. Then, our next panelist was Dr. Cheryl Shih, who's also in private practice. She's a general urologist in Washington State. And then our third panelist was Dr. Kara Watts, who is in academic medicine at Montefiore Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

The panel was really great, because it had a diverse group of people who were able to offer their personal perspectives in their process, what they learned throughout negotiating their contracts, what they thought they did well, [and] what they wish they would have done better. Overall, I thought it was a great, personalized divulgence for the viewers in the audience.

Some key takeaways were people really thought outside the box. It wasn't just about the salary number, but what other things are within the contract that could make a huge difference on your practice and your life. Some examples of that are having in writing that your call will never be more frequent than X number of weekends a month or a year. One person was able to negotiate their track to partnership, and what that pathway really looked like for them based on being fellowship trained versus some of their other colleagues. Other things that are important to think about are what support you might have, or if you're interested in having research time, making sure that money or support staff or resources are carved away from that.

So overall, it was a good way for everybody to discuss things that were important to them and what they learned along the way. Another key thing is everyone talked about maternity leave, which is really critical, when discussing your contract and thinking about that, if that's going to be something that even is potentially in your future when you're done with training.

This transcript was edited for clarity.