Posted on 09/01/2014 7:15:17 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
All too often these days, I find myself fidgeting by the doorway to my exam room, trying to conclude an office visit with one of my patients. When I look at my career at midlife, I realize that in many ways I have become the kind of doctor I never thought I'd be: impatient, occasionally indifferent, at times dismissive or paternalistic. Many of my colleagues are similarly struggling with the loss of their professional ideals.
It could be just a midlife crisis, but it occurs to me that my profession is in a sort of midlife crisis of its own. In the past four decades, American doctors have lost the status they used to enjoy. In the mid-20th century, physicians were the pillars of any community. If you were smart and sincere and ambitious, at the top of your class, there was nothing nobler or more rewarding that you could aspire to become.
Today medicine is just another profession, and doctors have become like everybody else: insecure, discontented and anxious about the future. In surveys, a majority of doctors express diminished enthusiasm for medicine and say they would discourage a friend or family member from entering the profession. In a 2008 survey of 12,000 physicians, only 6% described their morale as positive. Eighty-four percent said that their incomes were constant or decreasing. Most said they didn't have enough time to spend with patients because of paperwork, and nearly half said they planned to reduce the number of patients they would see in the next three years or stop practicing altogether.
American doctors are suffering from a collective malaise. We strove, made sacrifices—and for what? For many of us, the job has become only that—a job.
That attitude isn't just a problem for doctors. It hurts patients too.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Or get out of the med biz and buy a greedymart franchise.
“So BobL, what are your “monied children” gonna do for healthcare when they get old and sick? Inquiring minds want to know! If they are able to “buy” their own doctor, they will be very unique, and completely un-American!”
I assume they will go see doctors, just like most people that aren’t doctors do, and most people that are doctors do.
You seem to imply that they MUST BECOME DOCTORS to be permitted medical care when they are older - that’s a new condition that I might expect from DEMOCRATS, but certainly not from legitimate people on this site.
“Instead of winning do your damn jobs.”
Yes, the beatings will continue until morale improves. I really like your authoritarian approach. Perhaps 0bama should force doctors to do a better job by prosecuting or fining them. Any other suggestions?
I don’t really care what my doctor is dressed like.
What matters to me is the quality of care I receive.
When my husband had cancer one of his doctors looked like a party animal.
But when she opened her mouth and started talking I knew she was going to get it done and done right.
I regard her as the most important factor in his recovery. If she didn’t get his lungs open for him to breathe better all the treatment in the wirld wouldn’t have made any difference.
She is a pioneer in laser surgery and teaches new techniques. She is head thoracic surgeon at hospital where my husband was.
You are so right about the appearance of some physicians these days. I see them walking around in scrubs, sucking up Starbucks from a cup. Saw one the other day displaying her belly-button ring. All I could think of was some elderly patient lying in bed right at eye level of the uncovered belly button of this physician who was dressed like a tramp.
“You seem to imply that they MUST BECOME DOCTORS to be permitted medical care when they are older - that’s a new condition that I might expect from DEMOCRATS, but certainly not from legitimate people on this site.”
From your post, you seemed to be implying that being a doctor wasn’t a worthy or rewarding profession for your children. I was just expanding on your idea that perhaps no one should be a doctor for the reasons you stated and I was just wondering where they were going to go to have their H/C needs met when they grow old and need it. It’s like saying that you like to fly but don’t want to live near an airport. Or it’s dirty work that best be left to the serfs. Where am I wrong?
Lol, this is about expectations that some people in this profession have they feel are not being addressed. Not everything is about Obama. Most people work....to work, not to find some “spiritual satisfaction”. If you can get that at work, great, but most adults don’t, nor do they think they can.
Actually I get to stick it in you. Know what I mean?
Someone gets it...
One of my neighbors is a pediatrician and works in a clinic. She said she now spends more time entering data on a screen than seeing patients. Recently obtained office space for herself and one office person and will be seeing only private pay patients starting January 2014. She has also vowed to have no computers anywhere in their new setting. She would love to retire but has three small children of her own to raise. Great doctor.
I know what kind of strange animal you are....you’ve shown your colors out here for all to see. Simply disgusting. BTW....you never asked what kind of mistakes were made in relation to my family member. Just went right on the attack in defense of your profession.
“Actually I get to stick it in you.”
Are these the jokes? Or why doctors who leave the profession through lack of respect and big bucks should not become standup comedians...
I have no sympathy at all for them. I know one very very well. He lives a lifestyle all but a very few can only dream of. He is perpetually employed and can walk out of one job and get another almost any time anywhere he wants one. He doesn’t work the hours he wants all the time but he works as much or as little as he wants to. Mid 40s... most can only dream of such freedom.
Regulations? We all have them and there are far too many for all of us.
As for status and respect and pillars of the community... all are earned they don’t come with the diploma. From those who are capable much is expected.
As for how well they do. As individual contributors they can be exceptional. As part of a health care team they are usually prima donnas who don’t communicate at all. Without a knowledgeable thinking patient advocate the patient is likely as not to die of his treatment. They just don’t coordinate care.
This article is so much hand wringing and bed wetting.
It is a job. They need to deal with it. It is in fact a very good job. Get on with it our quit. There are three choices... Change it, Accept it or Quit it.
Today I have a primary care physician actually Internal Medicine Specialist. He has to belong to a large practice group to cover his overhead and make money. That large practice the billing dept is about as big as the medical end of it employee wise.
He's a good dedicated and compassionate doctor who treats the family. He still does his hospital rounds next to where his practice is. He does rounds at about 6:00am and is still seeing patients in his office well past 5:00pm.
I saw how gently as a person could do it explain to dad that his body was wore out from age and cancer and that his end of life was near. I've seen him called to the ER to see my wife and the genuine look of concern when he exited the exam room. She had a UTI which caused Pneumonia and CHF. Thank GOD that type of CHF is very reversible. Thank GOD for the doctors and Lab Techs.
I've seen the other side of the spectrum as well. By that I mean doctors who really should be elsewhere in another profession. They are the exception rather than the rule from what I've seen in doctors and I've interact with dozens of doctors the past 30 years dealing with my wife's needs.
There is no other profession I know of that demands as much education, time working while still studying, then internship, and almost life long demand of 60 hour weeks in most cases. I could not think of a more stressful occupation nor a more demanding one. Their decisions can mean life and or death. There are plenty of ambulance chasers just waiting for any trivial thing to happen to file a frivolous lawsuit.
I don't begrudge them their pay. They worked for it and deserve it. That said government needs to get out of their business and lessen the stress and pressures. Insurers aren't innocent on this issue either. They too place their pressures and demands upon doctors by placing themselves in the exam room second guessing many times even basic medical protocols. The HMO Act a product of one Ted Kennedy started us on this road.
Pretty much what I was saying. It seems to have gone over the heads of more than a few people here. Well done.
Sorry Docs, lawyers are now the top of the food chain.
How true. Medical providers and cops are about the only professions left in which a person gets held accountable for screwing up. Lawyers never do.
I don't know about that, but it's enough for me to realize that he knows a lot about me that I don't know.
YMMV. Give them serious consideration.
I am one that chafes under the doctor's prescriptions, but ends up following them ... for the most part!
I’m an internist. Love what I do and do it well. 29 years and counting. Sorry you had a bad experience and sorry for your family member.
You got socialized medicine, docs, because you got greedy and started taking health insurance. That way you could charge more for the exact same procedures. More than the free market would pay. What on earth did you think would happen?
Sow, reap.
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