Doctor “Burnout”

The NYTs had a very timely article on Thursday about this issue, which is destined to get worse rather than better as the Affordable Care Act is instituted. See: “The Widespread Problem of Doctor Burnout” by Pauline Chen, August 23,2012, NYT. The only thing that I can add to this comprehensive analysis of the problem is that it isn’t new. As a young doctor 40 years ago I was trying to decide where I should take my career, so I asked many doctors in practice as well as many of my professors how they liked their lives, and whether they were happy with their career choices. I could not find any doctors in practice who were happy. All felt that they were overworked and under-appreciated. Most of these people were in solo private practice, so that they were individual businessmen (there were no women). Now, with the revolution that has occurred in the way medicine is practiced, most doctors are employees of big businesses, it is no better, and as this article points out it is worse, with no change in sight.