Practice of medicine more stressful than ever

Most of us are finding it increasingly hard to get a doctor’s appointment. So, it’s no surprise that a new survey of doctors by InCrowd suggests that doctors are finding it increasingly hard to keep up with demand. They have so much pressure on their time; the practice of medicine is more stressful than ever.

If we are to address the shortage of doctors effectively, we not only need to need to expand medical school classes and residency positions, we need to find ways to make the practice of medicine, particularly primary care medicine, more rewarding.

More than half of the doctors surveyed (57 percent) said that they had personally experienced burnout, including emotional exhaustion, a low sense of personal accomplishment and a lack of enthusiasm for work.

This feeling of burnout has potentially serious effects on patient safety and quality of care; it may also affect the number of people who go into medicine. Almost six in ten doctors surveyed said that they were unsure whether they would recommend a career in medicine to a family member or knew they would not do so.

In addition to time pressures, doctors felt that completing electronic medical records was a big stressor. Almost three out of four primary care and emergency room doctors surveyed said that the facilities in which they worked were not addressing physician burnout effectively.

Two hundred doctors were surveyed. Each had been in practice for ten or more years, and, overall, the doctors had been in practice an average of 17 years.

According to a new report by Merritt Hawkins, the doctor shortage in primary care is leading to a large increase in their starting salaries. They are seeing double digit increases. The starting salary for family medicine is up 13 percent to $225,000.

Here’s more from Just Care:

• How to address the doctor shortage in the U.S.
• How to prepare (or help your loved one prepare) for a doctor’s visit
• What if you could read your doctor’s notes? Increasingly, patients do.