Sick of Being Doctors

Investors Business Daily ^ | 3 July 2007 | Editorial

[traumer]

“Brits, it seems, don’t want to be doctors... The socialist National Health Service is constantly trying to fill shortages and cannot operate without doctors from abroad.”

Doing the jobs the Brits won’t do...

[sgtbono2002]

How many Doctors in America are sleepers?

You can bet your bippy if they have 5 in Britain we have a few here.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

The major problems of providing health care in advanced economies have little to do with most of the issues that divide “liberals” and “conservatives” in the US; in particular arguments about public and private provision have little to do with the factors affecting actual outcomes.

These problems are endemic to the healthcare systems of all advanced economies, including those that have dual private and public systems, and participants in all such system report high levels of dissatisfaction, though Americans report themselves as the least satisfied. (1)

Providers in all such systems are unhappy with their roles. According to one recent survey, around 60 percent of US doctors have considered leaving the practice of medicine because they're discouraged over the state of U.S. health care today. The top 5 factors contributing to low morale were identified by the survey respondents as: low reimbursement, loss of autonomy, bureaucratic red tape, patient overload and loss of respect. (2)

The health case systems of most advanced countries are heavily dependent on foreign trained personnel. The US heath care system is most heavily dependent on foreign-trained doctors for care in poor and rural areas. The states with the highest rate of such doctors practicing in rural, under served areas were Florida and West Virginia (45 percent), North Dakota (40 percent), and Illinois (39 percent). States with more than 20 percent international medical graduates in rural areas were New York, Kansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas. (3)

One good source for objective international comparisons between systems is here:

http://www.pnrec.org/2001papers/DaigneaultLajoie.pdf

(1) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,136990,00.html

(2) http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-30-2006/0004461969&EDATE=

(3) http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/nov98/busse11.htm

[maica]

If part of the potential terrorist profile isn’t “university-educated” then the profile isn’t complete.

[Travis McGee]

One of the benefits of living in a socialist utopia.

[maica]

Correct! Can you imagine that after years of work and study, the conditions that many Brit doctors are expected to work in? I’m sure that the housekeeping union has more power in a Brit hospital than the physicians have.

[ExSES]

Brits, it seems, don't want to be doctors like they once did.

Partially true! It should state that "Brits, it seems, don't want to be doctors IN BRITAIN'S SOCIALIZED MEDICINE SYSTEM like they once did!"

[maica]

These problems are endemic to the healthcare systems of all advanced economies, including those that have dual private and public systems, and participants in all such system report high levels of dissatisfaction, though Americans report themselves as the least satisfied. (1)

&&&&&

I read this sentence as a reflection of media message control.
Most Canadians will defend their system, until they need to come to the States to get some treatment.
Most Brits are aware of the long waiting lists, but accept it as inevitable.
Dissatisfied Americans believe that many (other) people are denied treatment, but do not experience any denial of treatment in their own lives.

[maica]

Precisely!

[Wil H]

Everyone should understand that there are TWO parallel health systems in the UK.
1 The NHS, which is socialised medicine, is failing, has long waiting lists and cannot attract talent.

2 BUPA, which is just like the American system and which the British have been fleeing to in droves for over 30 years. Any decent job in the UK offers BUPA as a benefit, just as health coverage is offered by employers here.

[maica]

Great Britain is ahead of Canada in that respect, and it is another example that rational thinking can prevail. We hope that never will the US have to experience a single-payer system which our democrat party members so strongly endorse.

[norwaypinesavage]

"Brits, it seems, don't want to be doctors like they once did. The socialist National Health Service is constantly trying to fill shortages and cannot operate without doctors from abroad."

I'm breathlessly awaiting the DBM expose' on how liberal government health care leads to terrorism.

[maica]

Now breathe.

[Straight Vermonter]

This article (10 years old) gives 20% as the number of foreign born doctors in the US.

[Straight Vermonter]

I’m surprised by the doctors in this country who allow their eldery patients to go without food and water to speed them along.

It’s nauseating.

[CaptainK]

Thanks for posting. I was wondering why there were so many foreign doctors in the UK.

[ArmstedFragg]

The latest graduating class of new physicians has run into a disasterous government program that was going to turn the traditional system of residency into a ‘far more efficient and progressive’ system. The new system failed, leaving a significant portion of them out of work, and many other who’ve gone to Canada or Australia to practice.

So, they’re importing Indian doctors at the same time their own students can’t get a residency interview. Classic example of what happens when bureaucrats run medical care.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Some of the ones who I know are leaving practice for government jobs at the FDA, etc. No more malpractice lawsuits to worry about, 40 hour work weeks, and still VERY good pay.

[ArmstedFragg]

This blog, written by an NHS physician, remains a daily source of education and enlightenment regarding the failures of the system.

http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/

[maica]

That must be a cheerful blog. I’ll check it out later.