Quote:
Originally Posted by graciegirl
We may well soon see a greater doctor shortage. The terrible stress and responsibility that a person must face being an M.D. can't be compensated with mere money.
A physician friend of mine told me recently that many people bright enough to be physicians are choosing other career paths.
The profession is not as fulfilling as it once was when doctors knew their patients personally and visited them in their homes....and now the job includes managing a staff of bookkeepers to keep up with all the forms and restrictions that must be followed to get paid. Couple that with even the most precise knowledge applied in the most concerned and ethical ways still results in the death of a patient. Dealing with death is HARD on people. Why would you choose to do that when you can make just as much money in a less stressful employment??
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There is nothing new about bright people choosing non-physician careers. Our best and brightest should be encouraged to go into science, law, education, basic research, business, economics, politics (yes politics), etc. Deciding on medicine means giving up the ideal hedonistic years to spend that time in being taught. You had better have a high acceptance for delayed gratification. You need to get a kick out of learning, exploring difficult concepts in depth, accepting uncertainty.
Humanity. Decency. Cultural competence. Interpersonal skills. Wonder. All of these would be valuable assets for a doctor. And all would be enhanced by taking art appreciation, theater, and a wide range of what I think is still called a liberal arts education. Learning to write and speak well. Learning to organize thoughts, understand alternative points of view, learn how to learn.
Medical school is to teach a body of information much of which is rapidly going to be outdated. Undergraduate education is to provide intellectual growth, how to delve deeply into material, how to think creatively and capture that creativity for positive goals. I wouldn't want my doctor missing those years.
Getting a doctor up and running two years faster is not going to make any dent in the shortage of primary care providers. Instead consider ways to make practicing medicine more rewarding, or its flip side, less stressful. But that's another topic.