Objective. To determine the clinical practices, retirement plans and post-retirement professional activities of older psychiatrists, comparing retirees with working psychiatrists.
Design. Postal survey.
Participants. All Fellows of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists aged 55 years and over, resident in Australia or New Zealand. Of 468 eligible subjects, 281 (60%) participated.
Main outcome measures. Location and type of psychiatric practice; hours of work; retirement plans; anticipated and actual retirement criteria; anticipated and actual post-retirement professional activities; self-rated health.
Results. Working psychiatrists comprised 79% of the sample, being signiยฎcantly younger (mean 63.8 years) than retirees (mean 72.3 years, p 0X001). Over 62% of respondents worked principally in general psychiatry. Working psychiatrists were mainly in private practice (61%) and retirees had been in public psychiatry 537Y p 0X001X Working psychiatrists worked about 41 hours/week, 98 (49%) having reduced their hours in the previous 5 years. Retirement plans had been commenced by 124 (61%). Fatigue (27%) and memory impairment (10%) were reported as age-related changes adversely aecting work capacity, raising concerns of competence. Working psychiatrists more often anticipated deteriorating health p 0X001 and family/personal reasons p 0X01 as retirement criteria and anticipated involvement in a signiยฎcantly higher number of post-retirement professional activities than retirees reported p 0X001X Retirees rated themselves in signiยฎcantly poorer health than working psychiatrists p 0X001Y even when age was partialled out p `0X001X
Conclusions. Most older psychiatrists gradually retire by reducing work hours and developing new interests. The majority of retirees retain involvement in professional activities, but substantially less than anticipated by those still working.