Intro
Preface
Contents
Editors and Contributors
About the Editors
About the Contributors
Chapter 1: Changing Tides: Introductory Reflections
Background
What This Book Isn't
Why Leave?
The Processes of Saying Goodbye
What's Coming?
References
Chapter 2: Cultivating a Goodbye to Harvest a Hello
Thinking of Beginnings
It's All in the Neighborhood
The Long Goodbye
Saying "Hello"
Epilogue
Reference
Chapter 3: Leaving Practice in the Era of Independence
General Practice in the 1950s
Preparing for Retirement
Working for the Man

The Effects of Retirement on Communities
Being Married to One's Practice
Leaving Is Hard
References
Chapter 4: A Black Woman Department Chair Approaches Retirement
Chapter 5: A Gathering of Crumbs, Stones, and Crows
Part 1: Repositioning
Part 2: Renewal
Part 3: Reset
Part 4: Refresh
Chapter 6: A Stuttering Course to Retirement
Initial Thoughts: "This Is Paramedic Joe"
A Career Trajectory
Reflections on "Being Driven"
The Pandemic and Returning to Clinical Medicine
A Delight in Slowing Down ... Allowing Time with the Trivial
Decision

Chapter 7: For the Curious: A Brief Literature Review
Why Do Doctors Depart from Practice?
If Retirement Is a "Problem," What Is the Solution?
What About Younger Physicians?
Has Medicine Paid Much Attention to Ending Clinical Relationships?
What About When Retirement Is the Reason for the Doctor's Departure?
What Might Be the Meanings of Retirement for Men and Women Doctors Toward the End of Their Careers?
What's the Impact on Institutions of Physician Retirement?
What Might Recommendations for "Flexible, Agentive, and Respectful Retirement Transitions" [7] Mean?

What Happened to the Relationships in all This Retirement Talk?
So, Is Saying Goodbye Really Hard?
What About Other Family Doctors' Experience of Loss?
Was There an Occasional Explicit Recognition of Loss?
What About Other Specialties? Do They Address the Loss of Relationship When Doctors Move or Retire?
What About Psychiatry? Do Psychiatrists Address Their Feelings of Loss?
How Does the End of the Relationship Between Patient and Physician Compare Between Family Medicine and Psychiatry?
Are There any Narratives Co-written by Clinicians and Patients?

Does the Perspective of Autoethnography Have Anything to Offer Clinicians Thinking About Considering Retirement?
Can Retirement Be an Act of Resistance?
References
Chapter 8: Facing Retirement: Grieving the Loss of Clinical Relationships
Introduction
Stories
Lucy: Background
Doing it "Right"
The Therapist's Perspective: Eydie
Saying Goodbye Is Hard!
Lucy: Reflection on These Losses
Eydie
Lucy
Eydie
Lucy: Writing About Karen
Eydie: Comment
Lucy
Eydie: Closure
Lucy
Eydie
Lucy
References
Chapter 9: Retiring or Just Tiring?