The practice of medicine has just become too tough for many physicians. Too many long days, too many lawsuits, too much paperwork, all for too few zeros after the dollar sign. So with increasing frequency doctors are hanging up the white coat and stethoscope and saying “Adios!” to the clinic and entering into new, more lucrative, careers.
What could be more lucrative than being a doctor? Well, in this current healthcare system, and certainly the one we may be embarking upon, a good number of careers. Healthcare consulting for pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers, or working physician search firms (aka headhunters) just to name two. Never mind the physicians who simply move into management rather than practicing.
What is so regrettable about this trend is recent surveys suggest that 10% of physicians polled planned to move outside of healthcare altogether. So completely fed up with the entire system, maybe they will just move to Colorado and run a ski lodge or run a vineyard or something.
But regardless of what any of these ex-docs do–they are contributing to an ever-growing crisis in this country–the skyrocketing shortage of primary care physicians. Moreover, they are taking away a valuable resource for which we, the citizens of this country have paid in large part for them to become educated. This is not a debt that has to be repaid forever, but in this time when we need primary care physicians, and physicians generally, more than ever, it is a shame that so many doctors are choosing now as the time to seek greener pastures.
With healthcare reform on the horizon, it is not surprising that many docs are heading for the hills and streets that they hope will be paved with gold. It is simply a shame that they are choosing to do so when we need them most.
Summer Johnson, PhD