JohnnyM2 Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Following is a link to a Wall Street Journal article that is worth reading. I'm not sure the link will work since I have a subscription and I don't know if they allow non-subscribers to link to the paper so I will list some highlights. The gist of the article is that physicians, especially in primary care, feel that they have lost the respect they once had and have been reduced to technicians, caught between insurance companies, the government and administrators. They spend far too much of their time on paperwork and not enough time with patients. The system has made them increasingly jaded and unable or disinterested in responding to patient needs. Increasing numbers of them would not recommend that young people become doctors. In this forum, I often read about the frustrations of experienced PAs who have many of the same complaints, as well as other complaints more specific to the PA profession. Often these PAs recommend that young people become doctors where they will have an expanded scope of practice, more autonomy, and a greater level of respect. The WSJ article suggests, however, that mds may not actually be any happier except in specialties where PAs also appear to be happier. Some of the md problem is that salaries are level or declining. Some of it is expectations based on 20 years of practice that is now undergoing rapid change. The article acknowledges that newer mds may begin their careers with a different set of expectations and may, therefore, be less frustrated with their profession. I suppose the same conjecture could be made about new PAs though I believe new PAs and MDs will continue to experience an ongoing deterioration in work satisfaction as medicine continues to evolve or, perhaps a better word is DEVOLVE. Both professions will also need to deal with a new type of patient that is equally unhappy with the care this new system restricts them to. As a patient, and a husband and father, dealing with the medical delivery and insurance system, I can assert that the lot of patients, who once received excellent care at the discretion of themselves and their doctors, has often become a daily battle with reticent insurers and doctors whose hands are increasingly shackled by payers and administrators. I continue to believe that both the PA and MD professions offer excellent careers for some of the best and brightest in our society, though expectations of both providers and patients will have to change. The politicization, and regulation of medicine is both unfortunate and likely to continue and this is equally true of many other professions. I have always believed, and continue to believe, that the more government intervenes in any industry, the more fouled up it becomes. Someone once said that government does big things poorly but also does small things poorly. But for some reason, we now live in a society where too many of us feel that government is the solution to every problem, despite all evidence to the contrary. Cheers! http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-u-s-s-ailing-medical-system-a-doctors-perspective-1409325361 Sent from my Kindle Fire HDX using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paula Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 that made me feel better. Cheers to you too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmathews619 Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 funny I posted the similar link to another thread...didn't know this was here. Sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiggySRNA Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 So during my interview. I can say I chose Masters instead of MD because, medicine isn't all glits and glamour as it once was around 1940s. Would this fly? ;)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitcc1 Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Read this yesterday! Great share Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febrifuge Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 So during my interview. I can say I chose Masters instead of MD because, medicine isn't all glits and glamour as it once was around 1940s. Would this fly? ;)? I used a modified version of this, actually. I shadowed a bunch of different providers, and one of the discussions that really stuck with me was the veteran MD who had closed his practice and joined the local hospital group some years before. He said he still loved medicine, but more and more over time he had less and less of a say in how he got to practice it. "Everybody has a boss," he said, no matter your level of training or your credential. He was happy to hear I was also considering PA, and in fact he had recently encouraged his own daughter to go that direction rather than MD. That was my answer to some interview question or other, as I recall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted August 30, 2014 Moderator Share Posted August 30, 2014 PAs face all the same frustrations that docs do then have the added issues of the burden of arbitrary scope of practice, autonomy, and practice limitations by practice or location. I know lots of happy docs and happy PAs. I know unhappy docs and PAs as well, but the unhappy PAs outnumber the unhappy docs probably 5 to 1. A doc conundrum is " I hate this new emr, I feel like it limits my ability to see patients and my productivity, I may only make 250k this year instead of 300k"". A PA conundrum is "the hospital decided not to use PAs any more so I am out of a job. " or " My SP just moved/died/lost his license/retired so I can't work for 3 months until I get a new one" or "the DEA just decided to make vicodin schedule 2 and I work in the ER in a state without sch 2 rights so now I need to bug a doc 20 times/day to have them sign my scripts and they want to hear about each patient in detail before they do". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetMeOuttaThisMess Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 ^^^ sounds like the old days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMD16 Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 More work for the same pay are what the complaints is about. To survive. One need to adapt. And, this applies to both PAs and MDs. Those MDs who complain are lazy. Medicine has changed. The good old days. What's that? Not anymore. 120k/yr for exp EM PA vs 300k/y for newly grad EM Doc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted August 31, 2014 Moderator Share Posted August 31, 2014 . 120k/yr for exp EM PA vs 300k/y for newly grad EM Doc. and pa works 180 hrs/mo while doc works 130. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joelseff Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 PAs face all the same frustrations that docs do then have the added issues of the burden of arbitrary scope of practice, autonomy, and practice limitations by practice or location. I know lots of happy docs and happy PAs. I know unhappy docs and PAs as well, but the unhappy PAs outnumber the unhappy docs probably 5 to 1. A doc conundrum is " I hate this new emr, I feel like it limits my ability to see patients and my productivity, I may only make 250k this year instead of 300k"". A PA conundrum is "the hospital decided not to use PAs any more so I am out of a job. " or " My SP just moved/died/lost his license/retired so I can't work for 3 months until I get a new one" or "the DEA just decided to make vicodin schedule 2 and I work in the ER in a state without sch 2 rights so now I need to bug a doc 20 times/day to have them sign my scripts and they want to hear about each patient in detail before they do". this deserves a repost! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.