Where have all the doctors gone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cut back to 24hr a week now that med school loans are paid off. Enjoying having a life again. I’d work 40 hours if patients weren’t so miserable and management didn’t try to cram my schedule way past full.

Tell us your name please, since you consider patients to be “so miserable.”

Why the hell did you go into medicine?

Not PP, and not a doctor, but come on ... you know dealing with patients has got to miserable. It's akin to dealing with the general public with the added layer of people who are feeling sick or in pain etc.

Then again, why go into medicine? To rake in money and be called Dr.?

By your logic , 80% of doctors would quit. Really. We love medicine and we love helping patients, but the patients themselves are often terrible and rude. Like you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cut back to 24hr a week now that med school loans are paid off. Enjoying having a life again. I’d work 40 hours if patients weren’t so miserable and management didn’t try to cram my schedule way past full.

Tell us your name please, since you consider patients to be “so miserable.”

Why the hell did you go into medicine?

Not PP, and not a doctor, but come on ... you know dealing with patients has got to miserable. It's akin to dealing with the general public with the added layer of people who are feeling sick or in pain etc.

Then again, why go into medicine? To rake in money and be called Dr.?

By your logic , 80% of doctors would quit. Really. We love medicine and we love helping patients, but the patients themselves are often terrible and rude. Like you!

Except for PCPs, every doctor I know is a money-grubber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cut back to 24hr a week now that med school loans are paid off. Enjoying having a life again. I’d work 40 hours if patients weren’t so miserable and management didn’t try to cram my schedule way past full.

Tell us your name please, since you consider patients to be “so miserable.”

Why the hell did you go into medicine?

Not PP, and not a doctor, but come on ... you know dealing with patients has got to miserable. It's akin to dealing with the general public with the added layer of people who are feeling sick or in pain etc.

Then again, why go into medicine? To rake in money and be called Dr.?

By your logic , 80% of doctors would quit. Really. We love medicine and we love helping patients, but the patients themselves are often terrible and rude. Like you!

Except for PCPs, every doctor I know is a money-grubber.

You know, it’s funny. I have one cousin who is a corporate law firm partner in a large city and he makes over 5 million a year. And my sister is a cardiac surgeon and makes less than 1 million a year.

Which of these people is actually out there saving lives? “Money grubber” is not a word I’d use to describe physicians, if they wanted money they’d take their brains elsewhere .

[Anonymous]

This is the medical version of the Bonnie Tyler Song

Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where's the streetwise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night, I toss and I turn
And I dream of what I need

I need a hero

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cut back to 24hr a week now that med school loans are paid off. Enjoying having a life again. I’d work 40 hours if patients weren’t so miserable and management didn’t try to cram my schedule way past full.

Tell us your name please, since you consider patients to be “so miserable.”

Why the hell did you go into medicine?

Not PP, and not a doctor, but come on ... you know dealing with patients has got to miserable. It's akin to dealing with the general public with the added layer of people who are feeling sick or in pain etc.

Then again, why go into medicine? To rake in money and be called Dr.?

By your logic , 80% of doctors would quit. Really. We love medicine and we love helping patients, but the patients themselves are often terrible and rude. Like you!

Except for PCPs, every doctor I know is a money-grubber.

You know, it’s funny. I have one cousin who is a corporate law firm partner in a large city and he makes over 5 million a year. And my sister is a cardiac surgeon and makes less than 1 million a year.

Which of these people is actually out there saving lives? “Money grubber” is not a word I’d use to describe physicians, if they wanted money they’d take their brains elsewhere .

Oh, give me a break. What about all of the big pharmaceutical kickbacks they get?

[Anonymous]

I don’t have any answers whatsoever but I do feel that the system is broken. I hear so many abhorrent stories and I feel like there’s got to be a breaking point. I’m a fed and make a decent salary but I’m hardly raking it in. I’ve gone concierge for my dentist so I just pay out of pocket for all dental. It stinks but my dentist is very good and I’ve had some dental problems and really don’t want to give him up. And the dentist options are slim with federal dental insurance. Good dental care is truly only for those who can afford it. My eye doctor takes my insurance but many procedures I need to have done for a chronic issue aren’t covered by any insurance anyway so I pay out of pocket for those procedures. Quite frankly it’s extremely frustrating as these are necessary procedures and have been proven effective. I’m told I have good health insurance but it seems like everything I need isn’t covered. I feel lucky to be able to afford to pay for what I do need until now but feel like any more will break me. And I’m currently struggling is finding a new PCP. It seems like they all aren’t accepting new patients. And in one of the lucky ones…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm tired of NP being offered as a substitute for a MD.

When it finally caused me problems due to the NP getting multiple things wrong, I left my pcp's practice for a concierge one. It was pretty clear that the practice was so busy I'd never see my actual doctor again except for my annual physical -- and that needed to be scheduled 6 months in advance.

I don’t have one doctor who uses NP’s.

You are fortunate then. All of the hospital-affiliated primary care practices have been using them for years, and the last several years it ahs become very hard to get in with the MD. In October my pcp's office told me the first available appointment with my doctor for an annual physical would be in April. Unless I wanted to see the NP, which could happen right away. Nope. For multiple reasons.

Don’t put off care if you have serious concerns. The specialist NPs can be excellent. They perform routine exams and order tests and prescriptions. This gets the issue you’re having addressed. The MD, if you have one, will likely also review the results, and advise if anything needs to be further addressed prior to the appointment you scheduled (six months out).

By avoiding the NP, the clock won’t start on addressing your issue until the the MD appointment. Also, in six months they might want to order a new set of tests to compare results—but they can’t make a comparison if they don’t have a baseline already available.

I agree it’s a very different approach, but in my experience it’s been more thorough and accurate, if more time-consuming (due to multiple appointments) and with a bit less hand-holding.

[Anonymous]

The number of doctors is kept artificially low. This is part of the reason there are too few doctors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The number of doctors is kept artificially low. This is part of the reason there are too few doctors.

This. It keeps salaries and the prestige factor high. So gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The number of doctors is kept artificially low. This is part of the reason there are too few doctors.

There are only about 25,000 medical school applicants admitted every year out of 50,000 applicants in a country of 350 million people. And don’t tell me about the Medicare funded residency spot caps keeping this low because I’m sure the AMA lobbies hard to make sure that isn’t raised either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The number of doctors is kept artificially low. This is part of the reason there are too few doctors.

There are only about 25,000 medical school applicants admitted every year out of 50,000 applicants in a country of 350 million people. And don’t tell me about the Medicare funded residency spot caps keeping this low because I’m sure the AMA lobbies hard to make sure that isn’t raised either.

That's appalling -- if you assume each of those doctors works full time for 30 years (which they don't), that's still only one doctor for about every 450 people. That really doesn't seem like enough.
I do think the switch from majority male to majority female has made a noticeable difference. Almost none of the female doctors I know work part-time. And the men have all gone into higher paying fields or specialties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The number of doctors is kept artificially low. This is part of the reason there are too few doctors.

There are only about 25,000 medical school applicants admitted every year out of 50,000 applicants in a country of 350 million people. And don’t tell me about the Medicare funded residency spot caps keeping this low because I’m sure the AMA lobbies hard to make sure that isn’t raised either.

That's appalling -- if you assume each of those doctors works full time for 30 years (which they don't), that's still only one doctor for about every 450 people. That really doesn't seem like enough.
I do think the switch from majority male to majority female has made a noticeable difference. Almost none of the female doctors I know work part-time. And the men have all gone into higher paying fields or specialties.

But the powers that be and those who have benefited from the system will tell you thst it is just s “distribution problem” and there is no shortage. Lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cut back to 24hr a week now that med school loans are paid off. Enjoying having a life again. I’d work 40 hours if patients weren’t so miserable and management didn’t try to cram my schedule way past full.

Tell us your name please, since you consider patients to be “so miserable.”

Why the hell did you go into medicine?

Not PP, and not a doctor, but come on ... you know dealing with patients has got to miserable. It's akin to dealing with the general public with the added layer of people who are feeling sick or in pain etc.

Then again, why go into medicine? To rake in money and be called Dr.?

Because they are interested in medicine? How the body works, what goes wrong with it, and how to heal it? You aren't very bright are you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cut back to 24hr a week now that med school loans are paid off. Enjoying having a life again. I’d work 40 hours if patients weren’t so miserable and management didn’t try to cram my schedule way past full.

Tell us your name please, since you consider patients to be “so miserable.”

Why the hell did you go into medicine?

Not PP, and not a doctor, but come on ... you know dealing with patients has got to miserable. It's akin to dealing with the general public with the added layer of people who are feeling sick or in pain etc.

Then again, why go into medicine? To rake in money and be called Dr.?

By your logic , 80% of doctors would quit. Really. We love medicine and we love helping patients, but the patients themselves are often terrible and rude. Like you!

Except for PCPs, every doctor I know is a money-grubber.

What? You don't know many then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cut back to 24hr a week now that med school loans are paid off. Enjoying having a life again. I’d work 40 hours if patients weren’t so miserable and management didn’t try to cram my schedule way past full.

Tell us your name please, since you consider patients to be “so miserable.”

Why the hell did you go into medicine?

Not PP, and not a doctor, but come on ... you know dealing with patients has got to miserable. It's akin to dealing with the general public with the added layer of people who are feeling sick or in pain etc.

Then again, why go into medicine? To rake in money and be called Dr.?

Because they are interested in medicine? How the body works, what goes wrong with it, and how to heal it? You aren't very bright are you?

Maybe you are the one who isn’t very bright. The comment is in response to a doctor who said that they didn’t want to deal with patients. It is kind of hard to “heal” without actually seeing and touching patients.