Friday, November 20, 2009

How to Solve the Primary Care Shortage









1 comment:

  1. For those of us female physicians - and I am an anesthesiologist no less, of which there are fewer than there are female surgeons - I worked up until my due date when the university made me take maternal leave, I have worked non-stop the past 11 years after having my child. During that 11 years, I took one day off after an emergency orthopedic surgery. I taught more than 750 residents as the former chief of obstetric anesthesia at the University of Miami (largest residency program in the US)and never missed a day. I've been in private practice since 2004 and put in twice as much time and effort as male colleagues - many of whom were/are younger and who care more about their tennis matches, hair appointments, going the gym, etc. I've also noted they've had more law suits because they don't spend an extra 2 minutes to find out the important things about a patient. The problem rather is we are raising a nation of sniveling children who don't think it's reasonable to work for a living - it includes both sexes. One of the reasons I left academics was the lower quality of medical students/residents - people who had a shift-mentality. I've also known male colleagues who have quit or gone part time to fulfill some inner-child BS. My feeling is that they need to have a better handle on who is coming into the profession seriously to take care of patients - rather than people who simply want a fat, reliable paycheck. As chief of anesthesia at a critical access hospital, I work a full case load - about 60-65 hours a week, take a full call load like everyone else,plus do the administrative work. Women who are more concerned about having a family than being a doctor shouldn't go into medicine - true - but men who's idea of being a doctor is to be very full-of-themselves but not be adequate shouldn't go into it either.