311–320 of 521 posts
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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?
Also I’ve suffered a misdiagnosis that ruined my life in my early years so it’s not like doctors are heroes either. We never hear about the failures only the successful stuff at the bleeding(heh) edge.
They make mistakes, they’re just humans.
Everyone glorifies their profession but what about the people who suffer misdiagnosis? Have to live the rest of their life in misery because of incompetence.
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I'm an anesthesiologist. Two years ago I switched to doing 100% software engineering. I had already worked in software, but not full time. There were many reasons. More time with my family was a big one. Work not being intellectually challenging was a another.
Having worked in software before must have made it easier to change profession? I have not so I think I need formal training, I am a programming hobbyist writing in python and did some SQL for databases for research. I guess I need to have really tough problems to solve, when I succeed, there is almost nothing like it, the feeling of accomplishment.
I'm not sure I will give up anesthesiology 100%, in the end I'd like to combine and work on "medtech". Currently I work with automotive radar.
Feel free to reach out!
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Because doctors' associations and regulatory bodies (like AAMC in the US) lobby to keep it that way to keep the value of their profession up.
> Because doctors' associations and regulatory bodies (like AAMC in the US) lobby to keep it that way to keep the value of their profession up. This isn't true of the AAMC position in the US today, and when it was true in the 90s, there were many articles about an upcoming oversupply of physicians. First, US medical school graduating classes are smaller in number than the number of available residency positions. So e…
That's because the artificial restriction is placed on entrants to study, not qualified post-study graduates.
And it really is a purely artificial restriction: in the 90s, in SA, when affirmative action was implemented (where a C student from a particular background would get placed before an A student from a different background) didn't result in any measurable difference to the resulting quality of doctors.
We literally have a small experiment showing that allowing C students into med school doesn't affect the outcomes, and yet there is still a very limited intake into medical schools, and this is purely an artificial limitation.
Reality is that many doctors in a hospital work 120% already. This either kills the doctors or the patients.
The issue is that most doctors genuinely want to help their patients and feel some kind of personal responsibility and thus, can easily be exploited by the healthcare system to work longer hours. If they don’t do it, patients die, because there is no one else taking care of these patients.
Something I've never quite understood is why, in the UK, we cap the number of medical students per year. I've known very bright people who aspired to be doctors but had their applications turned down only to go on to do phds and become scientists instead. I'd rather have twice as many doctors who work sensible hours rather than the status quo burn out. Looks like there are calls to change this. https://commonslibrary…
Training places are already rammed to the gills, there aren't enough places to put substantially more students. Junior doctors already have to compete to get training slots even vaguely where they live and if they miss that they simply have to physically move to a different city. Medical training isn't as simple as just adding a lecture theatre and a few classrooms, or even a whole university building faculty of lect…
All easily solvable:
1. * You also need a hospital (and GP surgeries etc) to be attached as well as enough senior staff to train them when they are there. *
Only for the final 2 years of a total of 7 years of study, which means if we ramp up entrants for 2025, the extra new facilities need to be ready only in 2032.
2. * That training is very intensive on trainer:trainee ratios and the senior staff are also in critically short supply *
Not a problem for a career which is regulated with a national body - simply enforce a minimum number of hours of teaching/mentorship per year to renew mambership of that body. Since the full capacity will only be needed by 2032, this can be done progressively over 7 years.
3. * are retiring by the thousands and many newer junior doctors quit or emigrate as a result of their experiences up to that point.*
Simple: you currently don't get to qualify as a practicing doctor simply by passing exams, so withhold certification until a minimum time has been spent in mentorship/public health services.
I am a working physician (50+) that is currently in training to become an IT professional, preferably working with development of new patient records systems. Being a physician is just not very intellectually challenging, more emotionally challenging, programming is in my mind a real challenge. Any others with experience of changing fields?
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It’s extremely beneficial to the people who are already doctors (dramatically increases salary, prestige, power), and that is a powerful group in most societies.
I think it comes down to, if you read the history of the American Medical Association, that some doctors simply didn’t like a free market pushing down prices for their services.
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Have you? I’d love to hear that answer.
I have. Longer shifts with fewer turn-overs results in better patient outcomes.
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.