Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.
And 60 percent of 12,000 general practice physicians found they would not recommend medicine as a career.
Primary care is brutal. Expect an increasing number of these positions to be filled by foreign doctors, but there will probably still be a shortage over the next couple of decades.
It's not only primary care that feels this way. My sister is an opthalmologist in Oregon and her income has been devastated over the last years. A large segment of her patient base consists of seniors on Medicare and younger ones on Oregon's "welfare." The government reimbursement for treating those patients is cut back almost every year and she had to stop doing surgery because the cost of her liability insurance has gone through the roof. Her situation would be somewhat better if most of her patients had private insurance but not overwhelmingly so. I have seen what my insurance company reimburses my doctors, hospitals and labs and it is only a fraction of what is charged. But these providers can't afford to not accept the insurance companies pitiful compensation because there are no other full-pay patients who could replace the insured ones. That's why doctors overbook and give so little time to their patients because they have to try and make up in volume what they've lost in reimbursements. Our current economy isn't making the situation any better either. The big insurance companies have their premiums invested in the market like everyone else so when their portfolios are devalued as they are these days, they have no choice but to raise premiums and lower reimbursements. There are no winners in this mess, anywhere.
A Doctor friend told me he sees more people who are influenced by TV ads and exotic diseases than people who are really sick. He returned to ER duty to avoid the hypo's. He see's people one time then they're off to someone else to deal with.
A Doctor friend told me he sees more people who are influenced by TV ads and exotic diseases than people who are really sick. He returned to ER duty to avoid the hypo's. He see's people one time then they're off to someone else to deal with.
I think this is a huge problem. I know people sometimes just want to be safe and they want to take good care of themselves, but there are also too many idiots who need to do a bit more of their own research before bothering doctors. I went 7 years without seeing a doctor, almost 8, until this year when I was feeling extremely fatigued for 10 days straight, and had never experienced anything like that. I gave it my all at first to "fix" it myself, watched my iron intake, doubled my vitamin intake, looked at my diet closely, read online, etc. Finally after no improvement and really no other symptoms (which could have indicated maybe some type of virus), I went to see a doctor and get blood tests. I wasted maybe (not joking) 8 minutes of her time, haha, then off the lab for the tests, and had hypothyroidism, something that obviously I couldn't take care of myself that requires medication.
But you see people who come in (like on the show House, only this is not just TV reality it's actual reality) who have colds or are sick and various other simple things and expect the doctors to have magic cures. Look, you're sick, stay in bed and rest, drink lots of water, it's not rocket science. Poor doctors deal with so many people who come in for silly reasons.
It never ceases to amaze me that everything that has gone wrong in this country for the last several years has been laid at the feet of George Bush. Does no one realize that for the last two years there has been a Democratic Congress which (in case no one remembers) is responsible for ALL legislation. Congress makes the laws, not George Bush. Granted all the crap happened on his watch and he has been a very ineffectual president but he is not the one who has enacted the laws.
I think this means more and more opportunities for PAs (Physician Assistants) & NPs (Nurse Practitioners) to pick up the work load left by doctors.
But is this anything new? Maybe it's just my area but I haven't seen my doctor in years. I solely see the PA and wouldn't have it any other way. And one of the best parts is that I always get same day appointements.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
