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Are There Too Many Women Doctors?

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MDeducator Apr 23, 2008 10:12 PM GMT It is pathetic and ludicrous to blame the physician shortage on female physicians. If it weren't for them, flexibility would not exist in this career, and patients would be able to connect with us even less than they do now. The primary care shortage would also be far more pronounced than it is now. Until we adopt more human behaviors, such as the ones women have brought to our career, we will always have difficulty with malpractice lawsuits. Perhaps taking on some child care responsibilities as male physicians might do us some good. We may even be able to relate better to humanityâ??as well as our patients.
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Vitanuova Apr 23, 2008 10:11 PM GMT I don't think this is a "sexist" article and it is reasonable to ask the question. The answer to the question is, No, we are not training too many women. Market forces are not producing sufficient PCPs as it is, and simply increasing the proportion of men in medical school is not likely to make things better. It is also not clear to me that the right metric is hours worked per week, for two reasons. First, given the lack of correlation between available doctors and outcomes, why would a relatively small difference in hours worked account for the massive problems of access that we have? Second, the article does not comment on years worked. It would be important to know effort over a lifetime in practice. More than a few of my male colleagues have planned to work hard, earn a lot of money, and then retire in their 50's. Women could be making up the difference in weekly hours simply by living and working a few years longer than men. My father always said that medical schools did not like to admit women because they would not end up doing the work. That wasn't true then or now- but this is a myth with a lot of Scottish barnacles on it.
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Gordon Schaye MD Apr 23, 2008 9:12 AM GMT The desire to work fewer hours with less long-term commitment is true of the entire work force, particularly the 20 to 35-year-old age group.This was pointed out in a recent talk I attended by the chairman at Deloite Touche but is well-known in the business world and amongst corporate HRleaders. The particular desire of this group known as 'Gen Y' to work at home or electronically from the coffe shop is of course incompatible (awkward at least)with our present medical care environment.
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DocRawson Apr 22, 2008 9:16 PM GMT The article texts discusses a looming shortage in the available number of doctors. Why then is the headline "Are there too many women doctors?" Surely the solution is simply to admit and graduate more doctors period -- rather than to reduce the percentage of women?????
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Steve Apr 22, 2008 7:05 PM GMT We don't have a shortage of docs, we have a shortage of primary care docs and an overabundance of specialists. A recent JAMA article said, "Investing in a major expansion of the physician workforce is a distraction from what has already been shown to be effective. [More money] would be better spent on providing coverage to uninsured children and reforming Medicare physician payments to shore up the collapsing infrastructure of the primary care medical home..."
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Eugenia Marcus, MD Apr 22, 2008 3:18 AM GMT I am of the 80 hour a week generation and I came into medicine expecting to perform exactly like a man to prove that women were just as good. The men and women physicians of today have made a point about having a more reasonable balance between work and life. We have to adjust practice expectations to fit a more reasoned lifestyle. Patients will be better cared for as long as there is communication and coverage.
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Linda Marks Apr 19, 2008 7:46 PM GMT Women doctors -- You're obviously doing research on the wrong things. You should be studying how to get men pregnant. Then this kind of sexist rant would never happen.
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ssg Apr 19, 2008 2:16 PM GMT What a sexist article. As a female medical students,I am utterly outraged by the blatant prejudice presented in this article. We, just like our male counterparts work very hard in medical school, residency, and our careers. I'm sorry that our 9 month pregnancies and giving birth to human life is such a inconvenience to some of you. First of all, if you were actually in the profession you would know that there ISN'T a shortage. There are a million and more medical students like me looking to become a doctor. We come from all walks of like including US schools, Foreign countries, and Carribean medical schools.
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Ed Apr 18, 2008 2:45 PM GMT My wife has a female MD at the local clinic. Although my wife likes the MD she will change to a male MD when the female takes her next LOA which has occured three times in the last 5 years leavung her patients in limbo. My nephew who is in med school says that he is a minority with the majority of med school students being female and foreign. Diversity has taken control.
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