It’s July 4th! All across the country, Americans are celebrating freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Families and friends are relishing potato salad, apple pie, barbecues and parades.
Is your doctor decked out in red, white, and blue enjoying fireworks from his yacht? Probably not.
Have you seen any medical students waving little flags? Unlikely.
The truth is American medicine has little to do with liberation or independence. July 4th is just another day of captivity and confinement for most American doctors—and nearly all medical students.
Once upon a time all doctors were independent—until recently. My parents were both solo docs. Now most physicians are salaried factory workers practicing assembly-line medicine.
In fact, 9 out of 10 doctors wouldn’t recommend medicine as a profession.
Why? Here are a few factoids.
Pages in US tax code: 74,608
Pages of Medicare regulations by which physicians must abide: > 132,000
Current number of diagnostic and procedure codes doctors must know: 17,000
Number of ICD-10 codes docs are responsible: >140,000.
Percent of working hours doctors spend on non-patient-related paperwork: 22 %
Percent of working hours doctors spend on patient-related paperwork: > 60%
Percent of time doctors spend looking at computers instead of patients: 40%
Percent of working hours new doctors spend face-to-face with patents: 12%
Which is how many minutes per patient: 8
Hourly income for solo psychiatrist (my mom) in 1970s: $120
Hourly income for employed family doc today: < $65
Current student loan debt load for many med students: > 300K
Number of Americans who will lose their doctors to suicide in 2015: > 1,000,000
In the land of live free or die, some chose death.
I considered it.
Until I decided to live free as a solo doc.
Join me this July 4th to declare your independence.
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Pamela Wible, M.D., is a family physician and pioneer in the ideal medical care movement. She hosts physician retreats to help her colleagues reclaim their lives and careers. Dr Wible has been named 2015 Women Leader in Medicine.
Hi, Pam.
Does your solution work for subspecialists?
I am a pediatric cardiologist in New Mexico. I was a professor in the academic world ( swimming with sharks) then jumped into a private practice owned by a mega corporation…
I am 56 and just surviving. I cannot come to your retreat in October…
Michelle g
Yep! Here’s an FAQ that gives basic philosophy below. I know psychiatrists, orthopods, neurologists who have employed this model. Also had hospitalists, anesthesiologists, radiologists at the retreat. There is a lot that we can do to improve our work conditions even if we don’t launch independent ideal practices.
Free FAQ for docs. Just reach out.
10-pages of the most frequent questions on how to open an ideal clinic. Enjoy!
Happy Fourth to You Pamela! Big hugs. love Karuna
Thank you for being a friend. Happy July.
As patients how can we encourage more doctors to become independent and thereby better partners in our healthcare? I find the current medical model terrifying…
Thanks for your work!
Yep Susan! We are all in this together. We’ve taken a beautiful profession and turned it into quite an expensive mess. Here’s the 53-second solution: https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/blog/ideal-clinics-the-health-care-model-that-works/
Holidays were made for other people to enjoy. I have to work. And soon after to mourn the loss of another friend to suicide, Dr. Ted Westover.
OMG. So tragic. I’m emailing you now. Here if you want to talk. 541.345.2437
I’ve read, elsewhere, that the annual rate of suicide for U.S. doctors is 300 (in 2003). I was wondering what data was used and what the equation looked like for the statistic of 1 million patients losing their doctor in 2015. I’m a biology major in MN, and contemplating going into medicine. Thanks!
From an article Washington Post picked up that I wrote here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/when-doctors-commit-suicide-its-often-hushed-up/2014/07/14/d8f6eda8-e0fb-11e3-9743-bb9b59cde7b9_story.html
Essentially the suicides are underreported & covered up in doctors for multiple reasons outlined here: https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/physician-suicide-101-secrets-lies-solutions/
Given yearly doctor suicides are in fact higher than suspected at 300 – 400 per year (and this does not include med students who are considered student doctors to their patients) and that average doctor sees 200 -3000 patients per year (some more, some less – avg family docs has a panel of 2300 patients) then just do the math . . .
400 dead docs x 3000 patients = 1.2M patients
450 docs x 2222 patient panel = 1M patients
(you get the idea) . . .
And this is just in the USA.
Doc suicide is also an international crisis.
Please see the award-winning film that exposes the crisis here: https://donoharmfilm.com