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The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

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Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#301

Post by personomas »

BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #294
personomas wrote: post #287

> I have lost control of my days. I had worked in a hospital where I was oncall 24/7, 12 days out of 14. I had fortnightly weekends off. When I was preparing for surgical exams, I’d be working and studying from 6.30am to 10pm everyday, seeing my family only on the weekends for lunch. I had worked in a hospital network that covered 4 campuses and drove 500kms a week when covering these sites. I had worked in a hospita…

How would ending Medicare change the conditions in your quote?

Because the health care system is dramatically overwhelmed. There are not enough doctors for the demand.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#302

Post by billfruit »

throwaway20222 wrote: post #286

One of my friends I grew up with was “that kid;” smartest in the community, funny, played a mean guitar. Everyone loved him. Top of class. Harvard. Harvard med. Top placement for residency. Something happened during that time and he killed himself. It was absolutely unexpected from all of his friends. Shocking to say the least. Apparently it turned out to be stress from work, his hours, his fear of failing. Who will…

Can't medical doctors have duty time limits like aircrews. Wouldn't that alleviate some of the overwork.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#303

Post by tsoukase »

I think the doctor that commited suicide suffered from an acute depressive episode, so the outcome could be prevented by catching it early, taking a break etc

As a doctor myself, I believe it's difficult for a non-doctor to understand our problems. Saving lives (in quantity and quality) is both very rewarding and demanding but those two feelings cancel each other out, hopefully leaving a small positive residual. The effort is usually disconnected with it's financial reward (eg an easy, a-few-minutes case can be paid the same as another that devastated you) and that is inevitable. The medical administration, both public and private, is totally inefficient, if not provocative (eg providing 10 minutes for a whole patient visit so that the pay seems attractive).

In the end, I believe the doctor himself should take advantage of the degrees medical profession freedom, make some choices and/or navigate himself in the medical system in order to balance work, salary and life, starting from the specialty (eg surgeon vs internist etc) and continuing during his whole career.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#304

Post by adrianN »

georgeburdell wrote: post #236
cqqxo4zV46cp wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, yes. Literal victim blaming.

They voluntarily immigrated to the country to take highly skilled jobs and are free to leave at any time. They are not victims; they are willing participants in an exploitative system.

People with limited choices can still be victims even if they volunteer.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#305

Post by nitwit005 »

game_the0ry wrote: post #88

I don't understand why doctors that are entering the field need to be over-staffed and over-worked. I have a cousin who is an Er surgeon and she needs works 3 days a week, but that certainly was not the case when she was starting out. The work culture of the medical profession looks horribly inefficient. What benefit do you get from buying out young doctors?

Personal suspicion is a big part of it is just the people with power generally being fairly old, and not particularly caring about young adults generally.

They make the hospitals follow plenty of rules, but let them ignore labor laws in this case.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#306

Post by stevenhuang »

personomas wrote: post #301
BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would ending Medicare change the conditions in your quote?

Because the health care system is dramatically overwhelmed. There are not enough doctors for the demand.

What a weird way to frame the problem.

Why not increase the supply of doctors instead of reducing demand, whatever that means?

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#307

Post by xkcd1963 »

bell-cot wrote: post #237
lilsoso wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should enforce rigorous qualifications for doctors. We've relaxed the standards far too much already.

What sort of qualifications? 99th percentile talent in subjects like organic chemistry, which are actually not used by 99% of doctors in the real world? Willingness to work themselves so long and hard that their judgement is usually substantially impaired? And does the (my impression) widespread support for oh-so-rigorous qualifications for doctors reflect any real-world data about actual resulting quality of patient…

If your doctor is more clueless than you that speaks of itself.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#308

Post by personomas »

stevenhuang wrote: post #306
personomas wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the health care system is dramatically overwhelmed. There are not enough doctors for the demand.

What a weird way to frame the problem. Why not increase the supply of doctors instead of reducing demand, whatever that means?

> Why not increase the supply of doctors instead of reducing demand, whatever that means?

Because that's not sustainable. We can't throw unlimited human resources at health care. We have other issues and societal problems to focus on.

We can only create so many doctors, because its expensive to lock down a smart and ambitious mind for so many years.

Opening up healthcare for free for old people is like opening up an untapped fire hose. This is insanity.

Has anyone ever to stopped to think what work life is like for these doctors and for other health care workers? These people should be able to have a social life, a family, and be able to live out there lives.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#309

Post by civilized »

personomas wrote: post #301
BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would ending Medicare change the conditions in your quote?

Because the health care system is dramatically overwhelmed. There are not enough doctors for the demand.

And that's because of Medicare? How do you figure?
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