Is There A Doctor In The House?

It’s becoming more common for doctors to leave their practices for other callings, or to choose different career paths altogether. The question “Is There A Doctor In The House?” is getting answered in the affirmative less and less often, as a result.

There is such a shortage that New York University will be offering free tuition for its medical students. The hope is that it will encourage more to take on becoming a doctor and it is also a relief for those that already know they want to do this.

It is not that easy becoming a doctor, requiring extensive and expensive schooling. Only to be further followed by intensive residencies before you can stand on your own two feet. Then one can only hope after this ordeal of long training that it will pay off financially and in job satisfaction.

Why is there such a shortage?

With the numbers in from the Association of American Medical Colleges, it predicts that by 2030 there will be a shortage of 42,600 to 121,300 doctors.

There seem to be a number of factors discouraging people from becoming doctors.

First, young people just aren’t interested in a medical career they are more attracted to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers.

Millennials are also looking for hip, urban locations, something you won’t get fresh out of medical school.

But what is interesting are the ones that are already doctors with a hard worked degree and now have decided to go down a different road altogether.

Why, might you ask?

Some just can’t find a residency within a reasonable amount of time. Just because you graduated from med school doesn’t mean you will get into a residency. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough residencies for all medical grads.

The ones that are practicing are finding the electronic health records (EHRs) as part of the problem. The reasons are older doctors may not have the computer skills, 59% think it needs a major overhaul and 40% say there are more challenges than benefits to it.

Others are just leaving because the cons are outweighing the pros. Simply put, there are fewer and fewer cases of a doctor in the house.

No matter what profession one chooses they want to be happy doing it and now people are willing to leave their once sought after career for a more fulfilling one.

For a doctor, it is really about helping people and saving lives where they can, with some kind of time to enjoy life.