Being a solo practitioner and running your own practice can be rewarding. Deciding whether you want to be a solo practitioner takes careful consideration and as with anything, it comes with advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
There are many advantages of being a solo practitioner. While the main advantage is having control over your patient load and hours, there are many other benefits, including:
- Independence and flexibility
- Retaining all the practice profits
- Having complete control over all aspects of your practice. This enables you to create a practice aligned with your values and vision as well as be solely responsible for decisions pertaining to the running of the practice and purchases etc
- Higher patient retention rates as patients will have continuity of care as they see the same practitioner. This will enable you to build a strong, lasting relationship with patients
Disadvantages
There are also disadvantages to being a solo practitioner, these include:
- A limit on the number of patients that can be seen
- The financial pressure of running a practice
- The pressure of running a business. While you may employ admin staff, any major decisions that affect the running of the practice fall on you
- It can be difficult to maintain work/life balance as the patient load falls solely on you so taking time off may be more difficult
- Professional isolation due to not having colleagues ‘on-site’ to provide advice or a second opinion on specific cases
Being a solo practitioner requires a lot of thought and will come down to your strengths and preferences when it comes to running your practice. Weighing up the advantages and disadvantages is crucial when determining if a solo practice is right for you.