Not only are doctors becoming increasingly, frighteningly scarce, but they’re also hating life. A recent survey of 11,950 primary care docs and specialists done by the Physicians’ Foundation found that 60 percent would not recommend medicine as a career, while 42 percent said professional morale is either “poor” or “very low.”
The reasons for all this depression can be boiled down to insurance companies and policy headaches:
“The reported reasons for the widespread frustration among physicians include increased time dealing with non-clinical paperwork, difficulty receiving reimbursement and burdensome government regulations. Physicians say these issues keep them from the most satisfying aspect of their job: patient relationships.”
Food for thought, Obama? As for all those Medicare cut proposals being thrown around, 82 percent said their practices would be “unsustainable” if pay cuts were made. A whopping 94 percent reported that the time they spend on non-clinical paperwork has gone up in the past three years, with 63 percent saying the paperwork leads to less time spent on each patient.
And of course, there’s the shortage, which is already alive and well: 78 percent of the physicians surveyed believe there’s an existing dearth of primary care doctors, while 49 percent say they plan to reduce the number of patients they see, or even stop practicing over the next three years. Yikes.
Related:
RB: Get Thee to Medical School!
November 24th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I agree with this article. The state medicaid system & the feds for some reason have taken the tact of reducing doctors reembusements in order to stem the increasing medical costs (they think). They are already 6 years behind inflation & increased cost to do business adjustments based on the
CPI. In order to see a medicaid Patient in Michigan, we have to come out of pocket $12-15 to pay office expenses for each patient seen because of the states paltry reembusement ( then you wonder why many doctors limit the number of medicaid patients they see, if they will see them(which many do not). When i retired I spent 1-2 hours afer patients had gone to do all the required paper work(Of course unreembursed time). I was getting less for an hour consultation from medicare than plumbers, electricians, car mechanics etc. If they want to cut costs, go after insurance co. administrative salries, hospital charges & inefficiencies, etc. If they don’t wise up there won’t be any doctors left who can afford to see medicaid & medicare patients! I miss seeing patients and working out their problems and sometimes turning their lives aroound, but the insurance cos & government can jam it, i’ll stay retired!
November 24th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I agree with Dr. Jones, and I also like to point out that MD’s with Northern European names like Jones, are going away, slowly but surely. Look at Kaiser’s web site and check out the MD’s, just about 90%+ are educated in some other country, I’m not saying they aren’t qualified, they have to pass the exams here the same as American MD’s. But;
I like to hear plain ol’English, spoken by someone with a soft Tennessee or California or New England accent. It will be soon, when there will be 10 to 15 PA’s/NP’s to one MD supervisor, like the Physical Therapy Clinics do already with their physical therapy aids.
Yep, quality care is dropping…as we move further into socialism…
November 24th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
My own experience with Nurse Practitioners has been that they give excellent care to patient’s with the very time-consuming “ordinary” complaints. Colds, flu, routine well-baby care and immunizations, ear infections, urinary tract infections, diabetes, the list goes on and on. The NP with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Nursing and years of experience dealing with patients before she ever became an NP translate to a highly qualified front line caregiver who can take the load off the medical doctors. As for the Physician’s Assistant, many of them are also excellent caregivers, and some have made incredibly valuable assistant surgeons in specialized areas. but the PA, with only two years of education in the field (think English majors who get a specialzed Master’s in PA) and varying experience in the healthcare field, has to work under the direct supervision of the physician whereas NP’s have independent practice licensure.
More use of both of these practitioners can make healthcare more accessible AND more interesting to the MD’s and DO’s.
It is extremely unfair to compare a Nurse Practitioner with a PT Assistant who has a two year degree at best and cannot even write a legal order out from a physician.
Please take these things into your consideration. Thank you
November 25th, 2008 at 12:36 am
another strong argument for a single payer system
November 25th, 2008 at 1:43 am
I sometimes wonder why students ever keep going into the health care field in this country. I know they have chosen this career. I have worked in CCU/ICU, a MD’s office(Cardiology), home health and as a supervising nurse in two different sized hospitals. One is a large 350+ bed hospital and the other a small 50 bed hospital. Patients and staff wonder why doctors come in to visit late at night or early in the am. Many private doctors start rounds in the early am before clinic starts, then go to clinic, lunch is spent continuing rounds or procedures, then back to clinic. After clinic closes at 5-6-7pm they go back to the hospitals to see new pts. If they are smart they go home to see their families for a short bit (they do have families, and showing their presence helps maintain family stability).
More often than not I see physicians coming in to the hospital to see pts. in the wee hours of the morning (2-3am). Especially, the doctors with critical care pts. People get sick at all hours of the day or night, and families want to know what is going to happen to their loved ones.
I agree with Martin Jones as to the paper work. I call it the 80/20 rule. 80% paper work/20% direct patient contact. Even as a nurse in home health I could spend an hour in the home but spend 5-6 hours doing the paper work(admission, followup, supervisor visits with home health aides, and recerts, etc..). Like myself, physicians, continue working in the health care field because it is a part of their being. But there is plenty of frustration and paper work to go around.
November 25th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
There are many frustrations in health care. There always have been,but since I returned to the US in 2005(I was overseas from 2001-2004), I have been dumfounded by the number of times I find insurance companies practicing medicine. If they want to change a patients medication or testing regimen, they should be responsible for the consequences. medical providers are. We also have restrictions on providing medical care without an evaluation. If insurance companies were held to the same standard, their meddling would cease.
Also, after 15 years as a clinician, I’m beginning to think certain illnesses should not be seen by medical providers. Take the common cold, for instance. There is no evidence that anything, with the possible exception of over the counter decongestants, makes a difference. Isn’t that a waste of patient visits that could be used for patients that have treatable illnesses?
December 16th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Scott, great points.
What we need is a simple, quick, cheap, reliable OTC test for the common cold. Then docs could require test results from patients before scheduling appointments. This would also cut down on transmission of the virus to the staff and in the waiting rooms at clinics.
I still have friends and family who, when sick with a cold, rush straight to the doc who invariably gives them an rx for antibiotics. I tell them it won’t help, but sure enough, when they feel better in a few days, they credit the drugs and then stop taking them! When I tell them they’re doing more harm than good, they don’t believe me. People think antibiotics are harmless and a cure-all. We need better education on this, and that starts with the doctors.