Over-saturation

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EngOp

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What is the likelihood that the same thing that is currently happening to the law field will happen to the medical field? As you should know by now, one-third of law school graduates aren't practicing law. Just imagine if the same thing happens to the medical field. I don't know if i'm just irrational, but i have a feeling that as the law field dies out, more and more students will dive in to medical school. When will we have too much Doctors?
 
Thought this was going to be some question about solvents and solutes.
 
EngOp said:
What is the likelihood that the same thing that is currently happening to the law field will happen to the medical field? As you should know by now, one-third of law school graduates aren't practicing law. Just imagine if the same thing happens to the medical field. I don't know if i'm just irrational, but i have a feeling that as the law field dies out, more and more students will dive in to medical school. When will we have too much Doctors?
Click to expand...

Yes, you are being irrational. I'm sure this is outlined in the other threads, but here's the scoop. The number of med students doesn't dictate the number of doctors. The number of residency slots do. That number has been pretty stagnant for years, and is anticipated to remain so. Why? Because the money, by and large comes from taxpayers, and at the moment they are trying to figure out how to lower the amount of money healthcare costs, not raise it. So as more and more people go to med school, the more folks getting education offshore will lose out on residency slots, until there is 100% US grads getting all the residencies. After that, theoretically some people will get MDs but never be doctors, but we are many thousands of seats away from that issue.

Law, by contrast doesn't have the barriers to entry into the profession that medicine does, so every law student potentially becomes part of the problem. You do 3 years of law school, pass the bar, and you are in. There are many more law schools with many more seats, and they all crank out lots of people, most of whom will pass the bar eventually. There are no internships/residencies in law, so everything is privately funded -- you go to school and then you get a job if you can. There are no limited seats in law -- you get your JD and you are done and in the marketplace. In medicine an MD without training is pretty meaningless, and until you do your residency, you aren't in the marketplace.

So no, under the current structure, there will never be a glut of physicians. The number of physicians isn't growing year to year, because the number of residency slots doesn't grow year to year. It is stable, flat. There may someday be a glut of DNPs and others who are calling themselves "doctor" but don't do any real residency. But that is a different issue altogether.

Now there may be gluts in certain communities -- ie if too many doctors want to practice in NYC rather than out in the sticks. That can happen. And there will be a drop off in need for physicians when the baby boomers die off (although since we are technically in a "shortage" presently, this should simply put us back on par). But I wouldn't lose much sleep over it. A lot can happen to the medical field, but the current system provides for a very stable number, so a glut isn't a real concern.
 
Law2Doc said:
Yes, you are being irrational. I'm sure this is outlined in the other threads, but here's the scoop. The number of med students doesn't dictate the number of doctors. The number of residency slots do. That number has been pretty stagnant for years, and is anticipated to remain so. Why? Because the money, by and large comes from taxpayers, and at the moment they are trying to figure out how to lower the amount of money healthcare costs, not raise it. So as more and more people go to med school, the more folks getting education offshore will lose out on residency slots, until there is 100% US grads getting all the residencies. After that, theoretically some people will get MDs but never be doctors, but we are many thousands of seats away from that issue.

Law, by contrast doesn't have the barriers to entry into the profession that medicine does, so every law student potentially becomes part of the problem. You do 3 years of law school, pass the bar, and you are in. There are many more law schools with many more seats, and they all crank out lots of people, most of whom will pass the bar eventually. There are no internships/residencies in law, so everything is privately funded -- you go to school and then you get a job if you can. There are no limited seats in law -- you get your JD and you are done and in the marketplace. In medicine an MD without training is pretty meaningless, and until you do your residency, you aren't in the marketplace.

So no, under the current structure, there will never be a glut of physicians. There may someday be a glut of DNPs and others who are calling themselves "doctor" but don't do any real residency. But that is a different issue altogether.
Click to expand...


Wow - very insightful. Thank you!
 
My opinion on why there's an over saturation of lawyers is the need based situation. I'm a nontrad pre-med with an IT background so take what I say with a grain of salt. There will always be sick people, and always be a need for doctors. If you're worried about job security picking a specialty that isn't a choice such as emergency medicine would be a better choice than plastic, even though you'd make more in plastics. Back to attorneys, as the economy tanks a lot of need for attorneys is seen as elective, such as filing lawsuits, fighting tickets, etc. There are need based attorney purposes such as filing divorce, being a defendant in a criminal situation, etc.

Basically my point is if you need medical attention, you can choose not to get it. If you need a lawyer, there are other options, and even court appointed if you do not have money in criminal situations.
 
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