It’s something we are taught from when we are very young and is a core middle-class belief: work hard, get a qualification, and then you’ll be able to find a good employer who will send you a nice pay check every month.

On some levels, this seems like an attractive option. Yet on so many others, it falls apart.

For doctors in the US, the concept of ’employment’ is relatively new, because prior to the corporate takeover of healthcare over the past 20 years, nearly all doctors were self-employed — so, essentially working for themselves.

I was recently having a discussion with a colleague about doctors breaking away from full-time medicine and working in a more flexible way.