Interesting argument on NYT about low job safisfaction among MDs

[medicienne]

What do you think?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/h...19&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

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[drfunktacular]

What do you think?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/h...19&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

My future's so bright I gotta...


...think about finding a different job.

 

[IndyXRT]

It certainly gives one pause. I see it as just one symptom of a system that is hopelessly broken.

 

[U4iA]

articles like these really make me wonder why doctors do not get organized and work together to prevent the medical ship from sinking.

the entities that are making profits hand over fist are working hard to screw you over.. is anyone putting a pressure back against them?

its really quite ridiculous... there are very few professions that will sit idly as the art and science of their trade is totally disrespected and destroyed.

maybe one day, it will reach the intolerable level that will allow docs to wake up from the deep slumber and work together to promote proper healthcare and preservation of the doctor patient relationship. but it seems like the moment for timely action is quickly passing.

 

[drfunktacular]

articles like these really make me wonder why doctors do not get organized and work together to prevent the medical ship from sinking.

the entities that are making profits hand over fist are working hard to screw you over.. is anyone putting a pressure back against them?

its really quite ridiculous... there are very few professions that will sit idly as the art and science of their trade is totally disrespected and destroyed.

maybe one day, it will reach the intolerable level that will allow docs to wake up from the deep slumber and work together to promote proper healthcare and preservation of the doctor patient relationship. but it seems like the moment for timely action is quickly passing.

In general, it seems to me like most docs can't be distracted from rearranging their own little set of deck chairs to notice that the whole Titanic is sinking. Or even if they notice, they figure, "well I'm pretty busy rearranging these chairs, plus I'm making some good money watching my NP rearrange those chairs over there, so I'll just keep doing it until the ship sinks. Then I'll just hang onto those young doctor's life rafts once we've sunk."

OK, that metaphor is getting progressively more tortured. Point is, many doctors don't really care much as long as they're still making a buck or two. Once no doctors can do that, maybe then they'll try to do something about it. And maybe the insurance CEO's and Medicare administrators will try to keep themselves from laughing in their faces. But probably not.

 

[maceo]

someone should post this in the pre medical forum. There is no hope for me.. but maybe there is for them.

The article didnt mention the crazy credentialing, and the state licensure fees and paperwork and astronomical certification fees. Unreal.

 

[sirus_virus]

"Recently, he confessed, he has been thinking about quitting medicine altogether and opening a convenience store. "Ninety percent of doctors I know are fed up with medicine," he said."

"A 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians is scheduled to take effect on July 1. Further cuts are planned in coming years. Many doctors have told lawmakers that if the cuts go through, they will stop seeing Medicare patients. But reimbursement cuts are only a small part of doctors' woes today."

"When I was a resident I thought it was enough to take good care of patients. But the real world is totally different."

Yes, in the real world real people save real money by screwing the ureal. The unrealistic expectations physicians have had over the years that somehow they were going to sit arround and things will fall into place is now catching up. Barring some serious intervention, you will see more physician turned convenience store owners in the future. For those who think it is going to take long before catastrophe strikes, just keep in mind that one funky medicare related bill from congress is enough to change things within a mater of months.

 

[tr]

White-collar workers have never been able to unionize effectively. The reason is that their personal identities and loyalties are too bound up with their jobs.

Labor organization requires that the workers use the only bargaining chip they have available: the power to supply or withdraw their own labor.

This works fine when the laborers don't have a strong personal investment in the success of the company. That's why blue-collar workers have such a long and successful tradition of unionization.

Professionals can't do this because they can't let go of their personal investment in the quality of their work. (This is not a value judgement, merely an observation.)

This goes double for doctors because of the moral repugnance of walking out on sick people who need help.

A bunch of surgeons tried to strike in W Va a few years ago
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/01/01/medical.malpractice/index.html

Even then it was kind of a half-strike (they were still doing emergencies, just not routine/elective procedures), and still the backlash of public opinion against the idea of striking doctors was so strong that nothing came of it, they just gave up and went back to work.

 

[medicienne]

My future's so bright I gotta...


...think about finding a different job.

My thoughts exactly lol!

 

[3dtp]

..

 

[3dtp]

someone should post this in the pre medical forum. There is no hope for me.. but maybe there is for them.

The article didnt mention the crazy credentialing, and the state licensure fees and paperwork and astronomical certification fees. Unreal.

Boy, you ain't just a kiddin' there! I feel like a criminal every time I do a credentials document.

I read a book a long time ago in high school called 1984. It was written by George Orwell and described a totalitarian state.

Anybody here had to get a National Practitioner Data Bank/Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank Self-Query? This thing is scary beyond belief. If you read their web site, it sounds like something out of Orwells' book.

And we are not alone, at least not for long!
to wit: "It is anticipated that the final rules for Section 1921 of the Social Security Act will be published in the Federal Register in mid 2008. Once published and implemented, Section 1921 will protect beneficiaries participating in the Social Security Act's health care programs from unfit health care practitioners and entities and improve the anti-fraud provisions of these programs. Section 1921 will add adverse actions taken against other licensed health care practitioners and health care entities to the NPDB."

PAs, nurses, beware they're going to data bank you guys too. Next it'll be LPNs and baby sitters and nursing home volunteers.
see also http://www.npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov/npdb.html and http://www.npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov/pubs/Data_Banks_at_a_Glance.pdf

This stuff scares me more than Nixon/McCarthy's red files of the '50s, the police files on the Viet Nam war protesters of the '60s and the Guantanamo of the present day.

I think everyone who is thinking about applying to medical school should be given full disclosure on this stuff before they are allowed to take the MCAT.


Hot off the NPDB -- The "Proactive Disclosure System:"
The PDS was developed in response to a growing interest in on-going monitoring of health care practitioners. Entities that subscribe to the PDS will receive notification within one business day of the Data Banks' receipt of a report on any of their enrolled practitioners.

Within 1 day of the receipt of a report! This means your bosses will know about something before you know about it or have a chance to dispute anything that shows up! How crazy is this?????
-------
"we will stop beating you as soon as you admit you are are guilty."

 

[gojonn]

in regards to the discussion about why physicians don't stand up together and fight the destruction of health care... I do believe that physicians are beginning to stand up and show their distaste for the problems we face today. When physicians stop accepting poorly run insurance and government-run reimbursment programs we are making a a loud protest that takes time to filter through the system. Soon, people who depend on these programs will find them to be obsolete and worthless, forcing them to make a decision, that is to pay into a more credible policy or begin paying for their health care outright. Either way, individual physicians can make a difference. I believe it is the physicians who try and do "good" by accepting medicare payouts even though they take a loss; I am sure it makes them feel caring and nobel but in truth they are holding up a broken system and only prolonging the turmoil.