In regards to Indiana OD and Princeod
I apologize for the ambiguity here, but I actually agree with both of you. This is not an "either/or" argument. Here it is, in my opinion:
Regarding the posting above, I would say that there is a HUGE aura of entitlement to a lot of the young docs that I know. A lot of them are under the impression that we are like dermatologists: I.E. You get out of school (actually a residency), walk directly into an offer, sign on a dotted line, and start making 6 figures. You can (and some are, I promise) be repugnant to most of your patients, have very little business sense, move to roughly an area you want, etc, and none of this will change your supply of patients.....as I say to young docs, "Most MD's get their patients by referral. You have to get them by choice alone."
What all of this means is that a graduating OD must be all of the following:
1) Very fluent in ocular disease; whether through residency or a good school. A "golden age" doc (I guess that is me) will demand that you can keep up in our niche of practice.
2) Strategic about where they decide to lay their roots....I moved 1700 miles from my first job in FL to setup what I have now. It was done after spending most of a summer (on vacation, needed something to work on!) looking for a place that would provide a good patient base, relatively low competition, and of course somewhere I wanted to live. If you are the "I want to practice within a 10 mile radius of the house I grew up in", you are likely to flounder.
3) "Be the bartender" --- this was a line from the first doc I ever worked for, about 20 years ago in high school. He told me once that the best training he ever had for being an OD was being a bartender for a few years in college. In other words, you have to be able to adjust to patients and for them to see your empathy immediately. This is very much an X factor, and I would say it is one of the hardest traits to find. When I hired a new grad 2 years ago, I brought in over 20 docs. I picked him because of his disease acumen, but also largely due to his attitude toward patients....Yesterday I had 3 families coming in from 60 miles or more away to see him. I think we (my partner was his biggest advocate)picked a good one!
4) BUSINESS SENSE....I won't elaborate here because it isn't necessary. This is an absolute must.
With all of this said, I would be the very first person to tell you that it is rough for new grads out there, overall. There are some VERY big caveats to this, but if I want to charlatan it up I can make that statement with some confidence. Now, I am of the opinion that the dynamics of this will be different within 5-10 years. The number of retiring OD's will be huge in that time, especially if there economy improves. (That is the elephant in the room in the "oversupply" problem. If you see 2 straight years of 401k gains, the number of older docs walking away with their nest eggs will be huge. Any older doc I speak to won't shut up about this effect so I thought I would say it here) Also, certain parts of the country are likely to see the thrush of 30 million new Americans...so for me, any discussion of "oversupply" MUST be discussed locally. Anyone that acts as if EVERYWHERE is experiencing the same economic factors does not get it, in my opinion.
So yes, there is way too much entitlement and lack of understanding of the profession in new grads. This comes from an institutionalized "sunny talk" that we are famous for, and many have and do speak of it more intelligently. (I've been out for too long to act as if I am still on the pulse of it, and I recognize that!) Do not mistake my "if you can accept this" optimism for "everything is awesome". Yes, there are huge problems, and the people that don't recognize the above "list" have a very hard bottom that I believe did NOT exist when I graduated....in other words, the naive OD that is hugely in debt, wants to live in a certain area, has a normal disease education, is not Cedric the Entertainer for his/her patients, does not have Mr Buffett business sense, etc; this person has a much harder couple of years to start than grads did when I went through. THAT much I do know....but I also see many that succeed from the start, are more strategic, etc. I would argue that this polarization is at least 50% due to the very different national economic situation of the mid-90's vs right now, and that any 100% attribution to the "big 3" (oversupply, managed care, laws) is short-sighted on the history of our so called "golden age" that I was a part of.
So, if you are a new grad or a pre-op, it CAN be very hard out there for the next 5 years or so. You will have to beat the pack to do well at age 30, and the bottom is very hard right now...so yes, in a way I believe you are both right...just my two cents 🙂
