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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Phillipa on November 19, 2008, at 19:19:46
Seems that GP's internists are feeling the crunch of paperwork and feel very overworked and are planing cutting back on patients , retiring early, or careers in non patient contact settings. Phillipa
Many U.S. Doctors Plan to Quit or Cut Back: Survey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) Nov 18 - Primary care doctors in the United States feel overworked, and nearly half plan to either cut back on how many patients they see or quit medicine entirely, according to a survey released on Tuesday.More than half -- 60% -- of 12,000 general practice physicians would not recommend medicine as a career.
"The whole thing has spun out of control. I plan to retire early even though I still love seeing patients. The process has just become too burdensome," the Physicians' Foundation, which conducted the survey, quoted one of the doctors as saying.
The survey adds to building evidence that not enough internal medicine or family practice doctors are trained or practicing in the United States, although there are plenty of specialist physicians.
Health care reform is near the top of the list of priorities for both Congress and president-elect Barack Obama, and doctor's groups are lobbying for action to reduce their workload and hold the line on payments for treating Medicare, Medicaid and other patients with federal or state health insurance.
The Physicians' Foundation, founded in 2003 as part of a settlement in an anti-racketeering lawsuit among physicians, medical societies, and insurer Aetna, Inc., mailed surveys to 270,000 primary care doctors and 50,000 practicing specialists.
The 12,000 answers are considered representative of doctors as a whole, the group said, with a margin of error of about 1%. It found that 78% of those who answered believe there is a shortage of primary care doctors.
More than 90% said the time they devote to nonclinical paperwork has increased in the last 3 years and 63% said this has caused them to spend less time with each patient.
Eleven percent said they plan to retire soon and 13% said they plan to seek a job that removes them from active patient care. Twenty percent said they will cut back on the number of patients they see and 10% plan to move to part-time work.
Seventy-six percent of physicians said they are working at "full capacity" or "overextended and overworked."
Many of the health plans proposed by members of Congress, insurers and employers' groups, as well as Obama's, suggest that electronic medical records would go a long way to saving time and reducing costs.
Posted by stargazer2 on November 20, 2008, at 19:53:36
In reply to Lovely Docs Plan Early Retirement and Cuts Backs, posted by Phillipa on November 19, 2008, at 19:19:46
Phillipa, same as what happened with nursing.
Except now, more are going into nursing (often times as a second career) due to the shortages and wages finally coming up to levels that were not there for many years.
Many nurses left hospital settings and went into non-clinical areas where the burn out rate is much lower than in the hospitals. After the 80's health care in hospitals got extremely chaotic and continues and is much worse today. If you were trained back in the 70's or 80's, everything you learned in nursing schools has gone out the window. Today's nurses just do the immediate needs, forget teaching and preventative care (no time). And the patients are so much sicker today. The diseases that many get in their teens or 20's, you never saw 20 years ago.
I don't blame the docs for catching up with the exodus of nurses. The only thing that the docs in longer was probably higher wages and the need to pay back their med school loans.
Survival is a basic instinct for all animals. Get out or die (or develop cancer or depression).
The choice is always yours.
SG
Posted by Phillipa on November 21, 2008, at 18:48:12
In reply to Re: Lovely Docs Plan Early Retirement and Cuts Backs, posted by stargazer2 on November 20, 2008, at 19:53:36
Stargazer great to see you and know you are well. Yes the nurses no longer have time for patient care as they are at the computer if in a hospital and recently talked to an RN here who said after 40 hospitals will not hire you. Why overworked. Older RN's can't handle it. And higher degrees needed. Love Phillipa
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