I changed my learning steps from "1 10" to "10 2880", as in the first review of new cards comes 2 days after you first see it. I also increased the graduating interval to 3 days (as in after that 2 day review, the next step is 3 days) and easy interval to 6 days (as in after that 2 day review, the next review if you select easy is 6 days). I also increased my review easy bonus to 150% and my review interval modifier to 150%. This has dramatically reduced the number of reviews I have to do. Yet after using these settings for three months, my % correct has only gone down a few points (but still above 90%, which should be your target). I also changed the lapses new interval to 5%, but this hasn't made a huge different since lapses are still infrequent!
The change that makes the biggest difference is changing the interval of the first review (i.e. the learning step). This is critical when using Anki cards for something like most of medicine, which is absorbed via context-rich materials first (e.g. textbooks, lectures), rather than some rote memorization task (random vocab terms). That means most of your initial learning is already done and the use of Anki is in the reviewing. You can then skip past the steep part of the learning curve, straight into the review phase. The usage notes of SuperMemo even say that the typical interval of first review should be between 2-5 days, depending on the student and material. You can read more on this FAQ page:
http://www.supermemo.com/archive/help98/fi.htm
I might even push the intervals longer than what I have now (e.g. first interval 4 days, easy interval 8 days).