“The Physicians’ Perspective: Medical Practice in 2008” was recently published by The Physicians’ Foundation. The survey found that 60% of doctors surveyed would not recommend medicine as a career to young people.
Financial pressures were evident. In the survey, 82% of doctors said their practices would be “unsustainable” if proposed cuts to Medicare reimbursement were made. Only 17% of physicians rated the financial position of their practices as “healthy and profitable.” If they had the financial means, 45% of doctors would retire today.
Regarding attitude toward being a physician, 22.07% reported their medical career to be “highly rewarding,” 59.29% as “less rewarding,” and 18.64% as “no longer rewarding.” These findings are consistent with the high percentage of doctors who would not recommend medicine as a career.
Many doctors are responding to these external pressures and changing sentiments, including 49% who said that over the next three years they plan to reduce the number of patients that they see or stop practicing entirely:
11% said they plan to retire
13% said they plan to seek a job in a non-clinical career
20% said they will cut back on patients seen
10% said they will work part-time
These trends will certainly increase non-clinical activity among physicians, including consulting, freelancing, and part-time and full-time non-clinical careers.
The full survey is available on the Physicians’ Foundation website.
