why are doctors expected to work more

[lonewolf1513]

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I found this article and i thought it was very interesting. I don't see why can't you be a good doctor, care for your patients and still have a good life. Why are doctors expected to work so much and so hard in life, then criticized for making money. Also this points out how the shortage is only going to get worse.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-02-26-primary-doctors_N.htm

 

[chessknt]

Part of it is artificially created administrative BS thanks to the government, insurance companies, and lawyers.

The other part is that there are more sick people than there are doctors, so you have to work more to take care of all of them. If every doctor went on a 40 hour workweek then there would be periods where either no dr was available or 1 dr would be in charge of 2x the patients he should be.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Because people are envious and hypocritical. The shortage will probably get worse before better and when the baby boomers are all retiring we might be seeing a lot of patients. But hey what can we say, this is a problem and its one that primary care isn't going to fix. I'll be blunt this whole we need more PCP's is such bs and in 20 years we'll be needing extremely well taught intervention surgeons.

 

[Bigz]

Because people are envious and hypocritical. The shortage will probably get worse before better and when the baby boomers are all retiring we might be seeing a lot of patients. But hey what can we say, this is a problem and its one that primary care isn't going to fix. I'll be blunt this whole we need more PCP's is such bs and in 20 years we'll be needing extremely well taught intervention surgeons.

Wow.

 

[Law2Doc]

I found this article and i thought it was very interesting. I don't see why can't you be a good doctor, care for your patients and still have a good life. Why are doctors expected to work so much and so hard in life, then criticized for making money. Also this points out how the shortage is only going to get worse.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-02-26-primary-doctors_N.htm

There are a multitude of reasons doctors are expected to work hard. (1) demand for physicians far outstrips supply, so you can't limit the hours without creating a shortage, (2) the way reimbursements work, you need to work hard to make a decent income these days, (3) culture -- you work hard because it's expected in the profession, (4) Because of the intensity involved in learning medicine, the field attracts work-a-holics, and when your competition for a job is willing to put in a ton of hours, you have to put in a ton of hours, (5) it's a profession, not a "job" and so folks have certain expectations, (6) after an 80 hour/week residency, working 65 hours/week doesn't seem like that many hours, (7) you only stay competent by doing a lot of procedures/seeing a lot of conditions/keeping up with the literature, etc. It's not a job you can work a few hours and then forget about it for the rest of the day each day and expect to be on par with those who spend more time. Basically, it's simply different, and only some of the reasons are artificial. If you look at other demanding professional careers, like for instance law, you will see that most of the successful people are pulling longer hours. That's really how it works if you want to progress beyond the 9 to 5 "job" world into a world of professionals. The expectations are simply higher, both by the field, and by the customers (patients). It's not about what you want, it's about the demands of the field you choose. You have choices in life but really can't expect a longstanding profession steeped in tradition to bend to your whim.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Wow.

Personal opinion, I'm not going to lie. We have demand for PCP's in rural area's and considerably undesirable area's. How many doctors really want to go work in a ghetto? How many doctors really want to go work in the middle of Idaho? The reality is that when the baby boomers begin retiring we will be facing a extremely high demand in intervention/intensive cardio-surgeons and other extremely well made surgeons.

So frankly people can continue making these we need PCP's articles, but I know that in my area( a highly desirable area) unless your a PCP who knows Spanish, Korean or Russian then your not going to be able to make a job here. Btw I live in a suburb not a city.

 

[mfrizzo3]

Wow.

Wow what? He's correct.

 

[shiftingmirage]

In terms of the shortage - part of the reasons are baby boomers getting older, American health getting worse (obesity, diabetes raging rampant). More woman are entering the medical field, and with that they will probably take some time off for children.

I also think a factor is individuals' perceptions of what a doctor is. If you look on TV, people entering med school in the last 5 years and for years to come saw ER, Chicago Hope, and now Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs. All portray medicine as being hands on, life or death, gory. That's not primary care. People 10-15 years ago had Dr. Quinn, primary care physician who lived in the 1970s near an Indian plantation. To us (or at least me) that seems old school. I want x-rays, ekgs, gamma knifes. You're more likely to find the first two at your dentists office than a PCP office.
People may disagree with tv, but forensic tech jobs have only grown in popularity after shows like CSI came out.

Lastly - to be a physician on must have a medical license which requires 1 year of residency. The ACGME has stated it has no desire to increase the number of residency programs for several reasons, but one is to keep the field of medicine an elite profession. Elite - people want it - meaning demand is more than supply. I heard there was a study where the others claimed that the US could not copy Massachusetts health care plan because there wouldn't be enough physicians. Even if people started going to PC, they would still need more physicians as a whole.

As long as the demand for physicians goes up (baby boomers, diabetics) and the supply of physicians stays the same (# of licensed physicians is strongly related to # of residency spots) there will be a shortage.

 

[J ROD]

I found this article and i thought it was very interesting. I don't see why can't you be a good doctor, care for your patients and still have a good life. Why are doctors expected to work so much and so hard in life, then criticized for making money. Also this points out how the shortage is only going to get worse.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-02-26-primary-doctors_N.htm

it is what it is....deal.

You can work less hrs for less pay...once an attending somewhere I imagine.

 

[morning]

Because you are expected to care for your patients no matter where they go as long as they're your patients. So doctors spend time admitting patients and rounding. Or, if you're a surgeon/cardiologist, because your skills are in high demand, you need to be on hand IMMEDIATELY in some cases, and there aren't enough of you.

Hospitalists, laborists and intensivists will bring down working hours for primary care physicians. Some specialists, like endo and neurology, already have decent hours. This comes with a sacrifice for PATIENTS who want to have their own doctor ALL the time, but I doubt anyone's distraught over it...except maybe laboring women who want their own OB-GYN delivering.

 

[Law2Doc]

...
I also think a factor is individuals' perceptions of what a doctor is. If you look on TV, people entering med school in the last 5 years and for years to come saw ER, Chicago Hope, and now Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs. All portray medicine as being hands on, life or death, gory. That's not primary care. People 10-15 years ago had Dr. Quinn, primary care physician who lived in the 1970s near an Indian plantation....

Actually in years past they had shows like St Elsewhere (which I recommend to folks -- it's on HULU) which gave much better insight into the life of a resident than any of the shows you mentioned (except perhaps the first season of ER), as well as shows like MASH, Doogie Howser, etc. Dr Quinn wasn't nearly as popular as these.

 

[lonewolf1513]

I know why doctors usually work so many hours (competition, shortage, work-a-holic, etc...). I also believe that we can do something about it. Opening up more spots in med school, more residency spots, easing up on the tuition, etc... This will allow people to really pursue PCP and not worry about how am i gonna pay the bills. It will also put more physicians in the system. Our salaries will go down (but with cheaper tuition, that will be acceptable), but honestly in the end 6 fig is more than enough. All these are just potential solutions and in the end could (in my opinion) make us better physicians, because we won't be stressed. I love medicine and i am going in it with open eyes, i also believe that i can and will have a life 🙂

 

[deuce924]

In terms of the shortage - part of the reasons are baby boomers getting older, American health getting worse (obesity, diabetes raging rampant). More woman are entering the medical field, and with that they will probably take some time off for children.

I also think a factor is individuals' perceptions of what a doctor is. If you look on TV, people entering med school in the last 5 years and for years to come saw ER, Chicago Hope, and now Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs. All portray medicine as being hands on, life or death, gory. That's not primary care. People 10-15 years ago had Dr. Quinn, primary care physician who lived in the 1970s near an Indian plantation. To us (or at least me) that seems old school. I want x-rays, ekgs, gamma knifes. You're more likely to find the first two at your dentists office than a PCP office.
People may disagree with tv, but forensic tech jobs have only grown in popularity after shows like CSI came out.

Lastly - to be a physician on must have a medical license which requires 1 year of residency. The ACGME has stated it has no desire to increase the number of residency programs for several reasons, but one is to keep the field of medicine an elite profession. Elite - people want it - meaning demand is more than supply. I heard there was a study where the others claimed that the US could not copy Massachusetts health care plan because there wouldn't be enough physicians. Even if people started going to PC, they would still need more physicians as a whole.

As long as the demand for physicians goes up (baby boomers, diabetics) and the supply of physicians stays the same (# of licensed physicians is strongly related to # of residency spots) there will be a shortage.

Actually to be a physician you need to graduate from a medical school to obtain a medical degree. You need a medical license to practice. Even then if you just completed you intern year, you would be hard pressed to find a practice to work in or a hospital to give you privileges.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

People 10-15 years ago had Dr. Quinn, primary care physician who lived in the 1970s near an Indian plantation.

WHAT?! I'm a tv addict. Could you provide a link to that tv show? I'm familiar with Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. That show was set in the post-Civil War 1800s in the western U.S. There were Indians nearby, but I'm pretty sure the Indians didn't own a plantation.

 

[LuciusVorenus]

1. There's a shortage of doctors and a lot more sick people every year.

2. Most people don't know how much work goes into becoming a doctor, or even how much doctor's actually make.

I've had people say that it's unfair that family doctors get paid 300,000 a year for only doing a 4 year college degree in medicine like everyone else and only working from like 11-4.

That's right...try and take that one in.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

1. There's a shortage of doctors and a lot more sick people every year.

2. Most people don't know how much work goes into becoming a doctor, or even how much doctor's actually make.

I've had people say that it's unfair that family doctors get paid 300,000 a year for only doing a 4 year college degree in medicine like everyone else and only working from like 11-4.

That's right...try and take that one in.

Well, then perhaps they're not doing a good job of educating their public. We know because we want to be doctors.

To others it's irrelevant what education and training they've had as long as the doctor can help them get well. People don't know that doctors go to college and then medical school. They don't know that they have training to go through after school. They don't know that doctors are rounding through nursing homes and hospitals, etc. before they see patients in their clinics or that they go back for more rounds later in the afternoon. As a whole, people know doctors get paid well because doctors tend to live in nice neighborhoods and so forth. People can only judge based on their own observations.

 

[Squeal]

WHAT?! I'm a tv addict. Could you provide a link to that tv show? I'm familiar with Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. That show was set in the post-Civil War 1800s in the western U.S. There were Indians nearby, but I'm pretty sure the Indians didn't own a plantation.

haha I think they meant "reservation," not plantation. Their bad.

 

[bodonid]

haha I think they meant "reservation," not plantation. Their bad.

That's not even what caught my eye. 1970's? That's Good Times, not Dr. Quinn.