Many doctors regret choosing to become doctors. recent surveys have shown that 30% to 40% of practicing physicians wouldn't choose to enter the medical profession if they were deciding on a career again[1][3][6] This quote helps capture a lot that sentiment: "I wouldn't do it again, and it has nothing to do with the money. I get too little respect from patients, physician colleagues, and administrators, despite good clinical judgment, hard work, and compassion for my patients. Working up patients in the ER these days involves shotguning multiple unnecessary tests (everybody gets a CT!) despite the fact that we know they don't need them, and being aware of the wastefulness of it all really sucks the love out of what you do. I feel like a pawn in a moneymaking game for hospital administrators. There are so many other ways I could have made my living and been more fulfilled. The sad part is we chose medicine because we thought it was worthwhile and noble, but from what I have seen in my short career, it is a charade."[1] Doctors see themselves as lacking sufficient power and being told what to do by insurance companies and other forces. Doctors spend a lot of time dealing with paperwork. U.S. doctors spend almost an hour on average each day, and $83,000 a year—four times their Canadian counterparts—dealing with the paperwork of insurance companies. Their office staffs spend more than seven hours a day. [1] They also have to deal with the threat of lawsuits and malpractice insurance. Salaries for physicians continue to be a multiple of house-hold income, despite the changes in the way medicine is practiced. In 1973,the median annual physician income was $45,000, and the median US house-hold income was $10,512[2] In 2014 house-hold income was about $51,000[4] and doctor salaries were considerably higher: In 2012, physicians practicing primary care received total median annual compensation of $220,942 and physicians practicing in medical specialties received total median annual compensation of $396,233.[5] Of course it’s worth mentioning that achieving these salaries requires a massive up-front investment in medical school that can result in significant debt, together with additional years of training in which the salaries can be well below this level. Salaries need to be forgone during the medical school years as well and may be well below those of other opportunities during the training years. Source
References: [1] Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession [2] Page on nih.gov [3] Medscape: Medscape Access [4] Poverty rate 15%, median income $51,017 [5] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [6] Medscape: Medscape Access
