Wednesday, May 14, 2008

All Your Medical News Right Here


Hate to blow our own horn but we've been saying this stuff for a couple of years now and the Wall Street Journal is late to the party.


Check Here
too, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and other places, and, finally, here, oh, and here too.


M.D.O.D., we're cynical about medicine and the politicians and entitled teat-suckers that have destroyed it, and you should be too.

20 comments:

  1. Nah, I've only got 21 days of school left, and then I have summer vacation. Of course, I get paid as much as the average golf caddy, but I'm a little ray of sunshine down at the food closet.

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  2. Suddenly the world is interested in the average doc's opinion because it's politically advantageous.

    At least someone's noticing now.

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  3. 911: Is this your brain on caffeine when you get going on hyperlinks, doc? You know, the ones there, and there and there.....

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  4. "teat"... heheheheeee

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  5. I have teats, Focker. Can you milk me?

    You are so on it, 911. It's a bit like the environment. You know, leaving it a pile of shit for the next generation. Sadly, I feel like I can do more to impact and improve the environment for my kids much more easily than I can medicine. I am making my coin, paying the bills, will put the kids through college, then GET THE FUCK OUT OF MEDICINE. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

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  6. "I have teats, Focker. Can you milk me?"

    That movie was painfully funny.

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  7. Bro' 911. You need to tirate the caffiene and Ritalin DOWN!!!!

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  8. Hey Lofty, do most of your colleagues across specialties share your sentiments about gettin' the FUCK OUT OF MEDICINE? I've been considering med school to the extent that most admission hurdles have been cleared & my paperwork's falling into place. So far, three pathologists, a nephrologist, an ER doc, an infectious disease doc, (and even a dentist!) have told me to get my ass to business school before it's too late. Trouble is, the business classes I've taken and the internships I've heard about are about as exciting as a Bea Arthur striptease.
    Everything I've learned relating to medicine so far is more like a young Demi Moore holding an uzi and a tray of filet mignon. Are the docs mentioned above (MDOD regulars included) a small but vocal minority, or just the vocal segment of the vast majority? Is it really that bad?

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  9. rubyridge,
    ask around. see what you here. then come tell us.

    oldfart, i'm just getting started!

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  10. Good goggly moggly, 911, are you telling me that this will soon be a case of the last doc left please turn out the lights? Can we, like, push the politicians into the Boston harbor? Please?

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  11. This reminds me of that commercial where the doc is leaning on the hospital counter saying, "Okay, now make an incision right below your rib cage," and the camera cuts away to a man sitting at his kitchen table with a butter knife while muttering, "Uh, shouldn't you be doing this?"

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  12. RubyRidge: check this. Probably 20-40% of docs are disatisfied with medicine and 1/3 would probably not choose medicine again as a career...particularly primary care docs.

    http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=770345

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  13. i would venture the following...

    ten to twenty percent of folks are going to miserable at their jobs period. i may be one of those people, but i have had jobs i have loved.

    i feel that if you are practicing medicine in a fashion that is impacted to a large degree by JCAHO or EMTALA then you are probably unhappy.

    physicians as a group are not used to being second guessed and lectured by people who have no idea what they do. also, being removed from the free market by unfunded mandate takes control of your life outside medicine out of your hands.

    therefore i would guess that physicians who practice dermatology, plastic surgery, general practice internal medicine or pediatrics, ophthalmology, and some other specialties do not have the frustration level that we do in the ER.

    if i am not mistaken lofty has some close relatives who practice EM and it would be great to get their opinion up here. lofty?

    the general attitude of emergency physicians everywhere i have practiced is that the minute their money manager says 'you are good to retire' that they are gone. it's bad enough now though that many, like me and 'cat, are looking for another career NOW, when others in other fields are just hitting their stride in their respective professions.

    so, all you fellow ER docs out there, am i close? oldfart? erdoc85? scalpel? i'm ready to be wrong.

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  14. In my area, I seem to notice more and more physicians from overseas. Is this also another trend?

    Added note: I finally created a profile, since being just Amy did not satisfy people with real names like 911Doc... :-)

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  15. 911: What jobs have you had that you loved? My best job ever was working in a bookstore. Thanks for visiting us in the hideout! In terms of spin-offs, i was actually thinking more of you as Mary Tyler Moore and Frank as Rhoda. I would be the a annoying vegetarian neighbor played by Cloris Leachman.

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  16. Ruby:
    I love my job. Good hours, reasonable pay, dead people. It's the fucking job trifecta baby!

    seriously, there are specialties (like path.) in medicine where you can find your niche. I used to be in surgery but DESPISED it. Now I'm happy. Maybe it's the formaldehyde.

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  17. 911
    You are probably underestimating the number/% of docs who want out ASAP. Even the specialties that don't have EMTALA up the ass are still impacted by it to some extent. And then there's Medcaid/care which everyone has to play with (unless it's cosmetic)that imposes another log on our backs, and I could go on and on..

    Rubyridge, good luck with your decision. Medicine can be fun, but truly it's just a job with lots of drawbacks and not enough pluses to make up for them. We are close to the end of medicine as we know it. Maybe the politicians will figure out a way to keep medical schools open when no one wants to apply anymore..Oh yeah, TAX THE MFr's!!!!

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  18. Guys, gals, pathologists,

    Thanks for the loads of links/advice. And I mean it, really. I think that a sober appraisal of med school and the profession itself is probably the best tool I can have at this point, and here you're givin' it away for free. Kaplan ain't got shit on you guys!

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  19. In the comments section of the WSJ journal - this is what the public thinks of medical doctors?! Some socialist states...
    "Medicine is all about memorizing stuff, it doesn’t take a genius; just someone who wants to sit down and study." The fact that the AMA didn’t let Rice University and its 7 billion dollar endowment open up another much needed medical program in houston shows that in order to keep salaries inflated (which is finally coming to an end thank god) the AMA will do anything. Open up more schools idiots, the solution is simple. There is no reason for a radiologist to look at an xray for 10 mins and say “its broken” then charge 3,000 dollars. Give me a break."

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