Grumpy Old Docs Not Quite As Grumpy

Posted by Jacob Goldstein
Sure, old docs say things aren’t like they good old days. But veteran M.D.s may not be quite as sour about the state of doctoring as they were a few years back.
Look closely at the graphic at right and you’ll see that in a recent survey of docs age 50 to 65, just over half of respondents said the practice of medicine has become less satisfying in the past five years.
Not great, you say, but that’s a heck of a lot better than the 76% who answered that way in a similar survey in 2004. And the group of docs who actually said things got better jumped to 24% this year from 9% in 2004.
“That one’s a head scratcher,” Phil Miller, spokesman for Merritt Hawkins, the physician headhunter firm that did the surveys, told the Health Blog. But he was able to suggest a few possible reasons for the improvement — legal reforms have made malpractice less onerous in some states, and docs have a little more autonomy in some managed-care settings these days.
The survey went out to 10,000 docs, and 1,175 responded. It included several sections, including one that queried the older docs about young M.D.s entering the profession today. Answers on that front didn’t change much between 2004 and 2007. In both cases, more than 60% of docs said young physicians are less dedicated and hard working than the older generation. Hippocrates’ teacher probably said the same thing. But the surveys don’t go back that far.