disinterest among medical students

[anxietypeaker]

M3 here. Just wanted to know other peoples' perspectives on what people think about what I've heard (blue dog especially, if you're reading this).

Many of my classmates seem to seem to hate primary care. Even one mentioned that theyre greatest fear was having to do primary care (until they got theyre board scores back; hes planning on Cards.)

Anyways, while talking with them i think it really came down to a few things:

1) status among community, particularly with respect to nurse practitioners. Some people i know have said why would i go into FM/PCP if i coulda done that through nursing and not suffer admissions to med school/med school itself.

2) money. For the amount of work they put in, primary care docs seem to be really paid poorly in most med students' eyes. Even keeping in mind the fewer years of training than subspecialists, they really are paid low amounts.

I was wondering what you guys thought. It seemed like my classmates seemed to lean toward 1>2 in importance. One girl i met mentioned that #2 is part of the problem but she still would be interested in doing specialties that are not paid very well like ID but #1 is just simply too much for her. To a certain extent, i think they are being a bit superficial, but in terms of healthcare reform/etc, i can see many medical student avoiding primary care when its so important. Anyways, any thoughts?

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[deleted87716]

My thoughts? Read the forum for a while before you post.

Not trying to be mean. But, seriously...yawn.

 

[anxietypeaker]

My thoughts? Read the forum for a while before you post.

wow. i just thought it would be more interesting to know your thoughts particularly on impact on med student selection of specialty affected by midlevels (as opposed to the many posts on quality/ability/income), particularly with your tendency to cite info. Didn't expect hostility. You could have just ignored my post.

 

[deleted87716]

No hostility at all. It's just that there have been a bazillion threads about this sort of stuff, and if you bothered to read any of them, you would never have posted that in the first place.

Personally, I think that any med student basing their specialty selection on what midlevels are doing is so clueless as to be beyond hope.

Most midlevels are going into specialties, FYI. Same as doctors.

 

[Smokemont]

No hostility at all. It's just that there have been a bazillion threads about this sort of stuff, and if you bothered to read any of them, you would never have posted that in the first place.

Personally, I think that any med student basing their specialty selection on what midlevels are doing is so clueless as to be beyond hope.

Most midlevels are going into specialties, FYI. Same as doctors.

This is a great point.

To the OP - I experience the same thing at my school, but can you blame them? Major reform is needed.

 

[deleted87716]

I experienced the same thing at my school, in 1998, the peak year for FM interest ever.

Some things never change.

 

[MidwestDoc25]

1) status among community, particularly with respect to nurse practitioners. Some people i know have said why would i go into FM/PCP if i coulda done that through nursing and not suffer admissions to med school/med school itself.

2) money. For the amount of work they put in, primary care docs seem to be really paid poorly in most med students' eyes. Even keeping in mind the fewer years of training than subspecialists, they really are paid low amounts.

1) Who cares? Do what you want to do and don't worry about what other people think. For the most part, the general public doesn't know the difference.

2) There is plenty of money to be made in FM. My wife is a Family Physician (with OB) in an upper Midwest rural community of around 20,000 and just completed her second year of practice. Her year to date earnings as of her July paycheck were $214K and she's on pace to gross $302K this year. She also has the opportunity to moonlight in a nearby walk-in clinic for around $200/hr if she wants.

 

[smq123]

One girl i met mentioned that #2 is part of the problem but she still would be interested in doing specialties that are not paid very well like ID but #1 is just simply too much for her. To a certain extent, i think they are being a bit superficial, but in terms of healthcare reform/etc, i can see many medical student avoiding primary care when its so important. Anyways, any thoughts?

That girl needs to get a clue.

I've seen more NPs in specialties than I have in FM. At my residency hospital, when you called ID for a consult? You spoke to the NP. The attending didn't carry a pager and you had to stalk him if you wanted to talk to him. Nice guy; he just didn't want to be bothered, so he had his NP run interference for him.

Our hospital had 3 cardiology groups. All 3 had at least 3-4 PAs/NPs working with them. The ER was essentially run by PAs, with EM-boarded physician oversight. At least 20% of my patients who had OB care elsewhere saw midwives. The PAs essentially ran in the ICU in the afternoon, when the pulmonologists went back to see patients in the office. And you will see more CRNAs in your time as an MS3 than you can count on one hand.

So, guess what? Midlevels are in EVERY field of medicine. Tell your friend to wake up and see how things are done outside the Ivory Tower before she decides.

 

[bigkahunaburger]

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