Future of Medical Practice
Quote:
"METHOT writes:
> Recent cuts in the enrollment of students into medical schools
>has lead many people to believe that medical practice will
>become even more demanding than it is now.
I don't think that the number of physician-hours will remain constant
with a drop in number of physicians. Rather, you will see a further
decline in availability of physicians in less attractive parts of the
country, longer waits for elective care, more primary care delivered by
non-physicians, and a drop in rates of "unnecessary" procedures and
surgery -- essentially rationing by decreasing the availability of
certain providers.
Quote:
> I know doctors that choose to work night and day all their lives,
>however I wonder for the future generations of doctors would it be
>possible to have a shorter (50-60 hour) work week, if so, how many
>years must they spend working around the clock before slowing down?
Physicians can choose to work a 40 hour work week now, although they may
need to make some compromises to do so. As reimbur{*filter*}t drops further
you may see doctors working shorter hours instead of longer ones. If
the reward isn't there, there is less incentive to work so hard.
Increasing numbers of physicians are salaried, and on average, salaried
physicians are less productive and work fewer hours than those whose
uncome is based on production.
Quote:
> A recent poll suggested that 31% of doctors under the age of 40 or
>so would not study medicine if they could go back. Does anyone have any
>opinion?
Asking someone to go back and do an internship or the first year of
medical school over again -- I don't know, that was pretty brutal.
But I'm quite happy being a neurologist. I can't think of anything else
I'd rather be doing.
David Nye, MD * Neurology Dept., Midelfort Clinic, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Cigarette smoking kills 1 in 5 Americans. Almost half of those who
smoke die from it. Even {*filter*} and {*filter*} aren't that bad for you.
