Dear OldPreMeds,
I just posted this in the Physician’s forum…
Recently in the NPR’s radio show Air Talk, the host Terri Gross interviewed cardiologist Dr. Sandeep Jauhar. He just published a book called “Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician†where he goes on to talk about the increasingly discontent from doctors about their profession mainly due to the current model of reimbursements in our medical sytem which had lead to severe reduction in the time spent with the patient.
He also goes on to talk about defensive medicine and the great amount of unnecessary testing done in medicine today also due to lack of time, as well as fear of malpractice liability.
Have any of you researched about this? What have you found and what’s your take?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/08/ 19/3416321…
Interesting read. I recently asked a ER physician that I work with why so many doctors are disgruntled. He said that a lot of these “upset” or “disgruntled” docs didn’t know what they were getting in to when they applied to medical school. He told me to be honest about my future, and it’s not all glamour or riches, and I’ll be spending a lot of time “CYA” through charting, and not as much time practicing medicine as I would like. As long as you know what the end looks like, you’ll be fine.
I’ve heard similar stories. No profession escapes from some sort of disenchantment and frustrations. It’s how we are able or willing to put up with it in a sense. But for us pre meds this is something I feel we should have in our radar and be aware of it so we can be better prepared and know what we may face head on.
Working conditions and environments are different from one place to another; no matter what profession or career. Ways of working or practicing also change from generations to generations; some things change for better and some for worse. I’ve seen it happening in my current industry for the last 15-20 years.
Have you checked out KevinMD.com ? Very interesting too.
A side comment is that the author was a non-traditional student, earning a PhD in Physics and going to medical school older than typical. His earlier book, entitled “intern” is fascinating as it gives one of the “rawest” looks into that seminal year in a young doctor’s training. I highly recommend it.
I haven’t checked out Kevin MD, I’ll look it up. Thx
It’s interesting too that he’s also a non-trad. I plan on getting a copy of his book.
Kevin MD has tons of posts by physicians. All the colors of the rainbow when it comes to opinions and point of views, and that’s what makes it all interesting. A lot of venting for sure.