My headline is a little misleading. What I’m referring to is a survey showing that 39 percent of physicians would not encourage their children to pursue the same profession. When you factor in other health care professionals, however, the figure drops to 20 percent, according to a survey by HealthLeader Media.
Reasons for not recommending health care ranged from “uncertain future” to “broken system” to “too much regulation, interference” to “poor compensation, reimbursement.” (Guess which group favored the latter reason? Right–physicians!)
Since the majority of health care professionals in general and physicians in particular would recommend their careers to their children, the question was posed as to why. And the answer came back: 41 percent said it’s because health care is a practical choice with good long-term demand, while 40 percent noted that a healthcare career is rewarding personally or professionally and mentioned the value of doing good work and serving others.
The reality is that most people become physicians to make money. No one goes to school for 12 years and gets their butt kicked, and then accumulates hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, just to help people. All docs will tell you that they went into the field to help people but even priests expect to get paid well. People do a job to make money, that is reality. The general public think medicine is exciting, like on T.V.. The reality is it is like any job. monotomous and boring. You do the same thing day after day and worst of all, when you go home, you might be on call and have to work during the night. (usually for free). Patients don’t respect you anymore. They want miracles and they don’t want to pay for them. If anything isn’t perfect, then they sue you. The only thing that makes it rewarding is getting paid well. Sure helping people is nice, but you could be a school teacher and help people and with a lot less stress!!! If you paid doctors closer to what nurses made, no one who do it. Trust me, money is an important reason for anyone to get up and go do the same thing day after day. I keep telling my kids to be Lawyers. My lawyer friends make tons of money and they even think doctors don’t make enough. You’re going to see a gradual decline in the quality of people going into healthcare as we pay them less and less. simple as that. That is why fewer men are entering the field and nothing against women but they generally don’t want to take call and work long hours, so do, but most don’t. So before you consider medicine, just realize you’re not going to be rich but you’ll do O.K., but is it worth killing yourself through 12 years of schooling? There are better jobs out there.
Scott, I don’t know if you’re in medicine but you got it EXACTLY right!!