The New York Times reports that medical doctors now have some of the lowest job satisfaction rates, along with attorneys.
One trained medical internist, Dr. Yul Ejnes of Cranston, Rhode Island, reports to the Times that he is wearying of his job due to the many regulations involved, including a recent experience filling out papers for Medicare about a patient’s wheelchair tires: “I’m a doctor, not Mr. Goodwrench.”
The article goes on to say:
Complaints about managed care crimping doctors’ income and authority over medical decisions are nothing new, but the problems are only getting worse, several doctors said.
“Remember the ‘I Love Lucy’ episode in the chocolate factory?” said Dr. Ejnes in Rhode Island. “That’s what a medical practice is now like. They keep turning up the speed on the conveyer belt, and before you know it, you’re stuffing chocolates in your pockets.”
Applications to medical schools are dropping over time in the US, although they are now rebounding from an all-time low in 2003. If we go the single-payer way and every doctor becomes a British-style “GP” who probably only makes about $100,000 a year, but with less schooling, will job satisfaction increase? Single-payer could mean less paperwork… everyone gets it free, so no one has to fill out forms regarding what is gotten. It could mean more paperwork… everyone gets it free, so huge amounts of Goodyear-style paperwork are required for even minor things.
Would the even-more-managed-care system advocated by the three top-polling Democratic presidential candidates cause more paperwork, more hassle, and more doctors choosing to take a day every once in a while to just stay in bed and get away from it all (as at least one doctor reports to the AMA that he or she does every few months)?
When you hear complaints about “managed care,” keep in mind that HMOs were created by the federal government (under Nixon) under pressure from groups such as Kaiser Permanente and that any problems with them currently will magnify under the subsidized-insurance programs of all three candidates including Barack Obama and the required-insurance programs of John Edwards and Hillary Clinton.
Tags: Doctor job satisfaction, America health care system, managed care, American doctors, British doctors
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February 13th, 2008
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October 18th, 2008