The scariest thing you’ll read today
Halloween’s over, but there are still some scary things out there.
Take the survey released yesterday by the Physicians’ Foundation. According to 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.
“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.
This just reinforces the reality that Americans are slowly coming to recognize: While we swim in a sea of specialists, there aren’t nearly enough primary care doctors to go around—and there are fewer every day.
Here’s a little personal experience for you: I began looking for a primary care physician in August. I called around and found that most doctors in my area aren’t taking new patients. When I finally did find one who was, I was told that the first new patient appointment I could get was last Monday—Nov. 10, for those of you without a calendar nearby.
That’s three months for an appointment.
But what could I do? The only other option was a walk-in clinic—not exactly where you want to have your preventative care done.
Here are some of the other findings from the 12,000 answers provided:
78 percent respondents believe there is a shortage of primary care doctors;
More than 90 percent said the time they devote to non-clinical paperwork has increased in the last three years;
63 percent said increased paperwork has caused them to spend less time with each patient;
11 percent said they plan to retire;
13 percent said they plan to seek a job that removes them from active patient care;
20 percent said they will cut back on patients seen;
10 percent plan to move to part-time work; and
76 percent of physicians said they are working at “full capacity” or “overextended and overworked.“
There’s a health care problem in America, and it has as much to do with availability as it does with affordability.
Welcome to office, President-elect Barack Obama.
