The basic idea: doctors should not work part time or quit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/opinion/12sibert.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hp

"They must understand that medical education is a privilege, not an entitlement, and it confers a real moral obligation to serve."

That's a load of cr*p. Anyone who goes to a state U gets an education that is subsidized by the taxpayers. Heck, anyone who accepts a subsidized Stafford Loan or a Pell Grant is getting an education that is subsidized by the taxpayers. Does that mean that almost everyone who does to college has "a real moral obligation to serve"?

Everybody is depending on the tendency of physicians to "do the right thing" and their desire to serve their fellow (wo)man. They figure they can abuse physicians and take advantage of them and they will always do the right thing. If you are an MD and have joined Sermo, you know from reading posts there that those days are coming to an end. Doctors have had it with being abused and taken advantage of by the government, the insurance companies, the hospital admins, and the patients. This country is in for a SERIOUS doctor shortage, the likes of which has never been seen before. Docs over 50 are leaving in droves. The new maintenance of certification requirements are the latest thing driving them out. Whenever someone asks me what I think of ObamaCare or anything else that is happening in medicine these days, I tell them exactly the same thing. If you have a family doctor that you like and trust, be VERY nice to him/her. Be on time for appointments, pay your bills, bake them cookies. I'm just sayin'.

Interesting. Of course, she fails to note that for many doctors "part time" is 40+ hours per week. I suspect the general public doesn't know that. She also doesn't make suggestions on how precisely women are supposed to bear children without taking any of the so-called "extended leaves". I personally think it's a pretty good idea for intelligent, highly educated, goal driven people to contribute to the next generation. I don't agree that medical school is a privilege, either. There are few enough people willing to commit to suffer for 8-10 years without implying that the unworthy people who want to also raise children should be denied admission based on their need to be real people. Being a doctor is no longer the "higher calling" it once was, with the almighty doctor making house calls and keeping whole villages alive and healthy, no matter what the hour. That is simply not inkeeping with our current environment. I see her point that "part time" physicians and those who quit contribute to the shrotage of doctors... but I don't think forcing unwilling people to work greater hours, or replacing those people with less-qualified but available bodies is the solution. I don't have one, but that is not it. I don't care if my doctor is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week, if they are less qualified than someone who works "only" 4 1/2 days. As a side note, I argue with her statistic that women physicians are "less productive" in primary care. Or I guess, not so much with the statistic, but with her implication that women must not work as hard. There is evidence that the reason women see less patients in a day is because they spend more time with each patient, forming a closer bond and ultimately solving a problem in one longer visit rather than several shorter visits. I can't tell you how many patients I have had transfer to me from a male physician because I was willing to take extra time to be sure that everything got addressed and to listen to their story. I think it is pretty easy for a specialist who, by definition, does not have continuity patients, to tell those of us in primary care how to be more productive, and that we should work full time if we are "real" doctors. I bet she wouldn't last 5 minutes in one of those primary care fields, no matter how many middle of the night surgeries she has shown up for.

Hee hee, I knew you guys would rip her to shreds.

I really don't understand why the public isn't ripping women nurses and social workers to shreds for working part time and (gasp) also prioritizing their families. They provide patient care, their education is subsidized by the government, there is a shortage of them, and most would consider their jobs a calling.

Honestly, so many physicians in power use the very few women who are "checked out" (and who use their families as an excuse to duck out of medical obligations) as examples of why *mothers* are the cause of inferior medical care. Please. I'd rather be a genuine, hardworking human being than try to keep up with some facade of martyrdom. I'll let my actions (part-time or otherwise) speak for themselves.

I think the answer to your question is an unequivical yes! I was able to earn 4 college degrees in part due to access to low interest loans, and if the "price" I have to pay for that privilidge is "serving" than so be it. There's NO free lunch in the world no matter how many a perosn may have
grown up with or feel entitled to.

As for the idea that social workers and nurses ect, work part-time, I say you can't have it both ways and maintain any modicum of legitimacy IMHO. You want the "right" to work part-time as some nurses do, yet are angry DNP's want to be called doctor on the floor? I think it's hypocrital to pick and choose you either want to be treated completely different from those lower on the hospital totem pole or you don't.

Part-time Docs in ANY surgical specilaity is a terrible idea IMHO. And Docs who quit outside of some medical personal/family health issue or other extenuating circumstance like being married to an military stationed in Iran, SHOULD have to reimburse the Gov't for their training again, NO free lunch. Making the decision to have 2 kids in diapers and not being able to "handle" it as a Doc doesn't cut it in my book.

FYI, I bet someone is wishing they had put this thread in the Doc only forum, huh?

Nah, I knew you would find a way to reply to it anyway, even if you had to start your own thread about it.

Would you also say this to a social worker, teacher, or nurse?

Also, what about the surgical resident who decides to do a research fellowship (no call, minimal clinical duties, and funded by the government) for two years?

There are many reasons that physicians are notorious workaholics, to assume that physicians of the good old days worked so many hours solely for the human good and personal competence seems a bit myopic, although flattering.

Path, I would tread carefully on this topic, since I think it is safe to say that a doc who only has 10-15 years of useful working years left by the time they complete their training is also a "waste of training money" by this standard. So, all you "older" med students would also be excluded. Still think its reasonable to tell people they don't "deserve" a medical education unless they promise to work X imaginary worthy amount?

People have the right to BE PEOPLE, regardless of the field they choose. EVERYONE contributes to the greater good, no matter what their career, no matter how much they paid for their education, no matter how many years they "waste" in other pursuits. Physicians are not gods, we're not martyrs, and we don't owe anything to anyone besides to do the very best we are able to do at our jobs. JOBS. Not our lives.

I would also add that choosing to work part time/ not at all to ensure that our families are healthy and happy is not a privilege that should be reserved for the uneducated. Sure, I COULD (and did) work full time (50-60 hours per week) and support a spouse who works 90-100 hours per week, but I don't have to, I'm not going to, and I don't have to justify prioritizing family over work (again, work is not life!)any more than anyone else does.