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If I am not mistaken, MOMMD has a loved one that just began residency. Being an anesthesiologist and Intensivist, I assure you that what some have said above is true. I trained before work hour requirements -- Every third night call, ICU management, doing complex cases all night, it is a real problem. To this day 15 years into practice I cannot rest completely through the night and am up at 530 each AM even though I am a night person. The dilemma is that once we are treated as humans, the issues will resolve. On one had, every patient and family demands us to be at bedside instantly if there is an issue or on their whim. The hospital yells at us to make sure patient satisfaction is ranked high. The stupid metrics require onerous amounts of paperwork, and everyone thinks we are simply rich fat cats getting richer.

. I am not a union guy bit SOMETHING MUST GIVE. It is unreasonable to demand our perfection every minute of the day and then bring lawsuits for things that are bad outcomes, not errors. The system is dying. I love being a doctor, but I am ready to walk away from it. I am very good at my job, but cannot see doing this for the next 15 years. Unless there is a change. And believe me, single payor, reduce physician pay will drive more of us out of the profession. And do NOT believe the nonsense that nurses and practitioners are every bit as good as us. While I do not object to midlevel providers, I assure you that my four years postdoctoral work after 4 years of medical school makes me infinitely better capable to deal with disease and process than someone with 750 clinical hours. That was the first three months of my residency, but is the requirement for ARNP and PA to practice.

The world needs to find out what it is like when American physicians no longer work as we have been trained to. You can only kick us around so much -- and that time is coming. I am hopeful we will organize and do what needs to be done to preserve out health, our freedom, and be recognized for what we do each day. End of rant.