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The darker side of being a doctor

282 points · 342 comments · Danhale93

  1. estearum · · focus · HN ↗
    (speaking from US): The reality is we need more doctors. A lot more.

    There's no solution other than training a lot, lot, lot, lot more doctors.

    Their salaries need to be lower, training needs to be cheaper and faster, and we need a lot more of them.

    1. ossicones · · focus · HN ↗
      The American Medical Association would sooner let the whole thing burn than allow that to happen
      1. sarchertech · · focus · HN ↗
        The bottleneck is funding for residents and the AMA has been lobbying for more resident slots for nearly 30 years.
        1. RussianBot9580 · · focus · HN ↗
          In the SF Bay Area there's a town called Milpitas. There's a gigantic island next to it made of garbage. A government funded study has been running for over 10 years now trying to determine why Milpitas smells. They have not yet been successful. You see, succeeding means getting funding withdrawn from the study.
          1. estearum · · focus · HN ↗
            Irrelevant
            1. RussianBot9580 · · focus · HN ↗
              Is it? If I ran an organization whose members' salaries depended on my lobbying taking its time to produce as little of a result as possible - would I really want to do a good job? Or if I did - would I remain the head of said organization for very long?
              1. estearum · · focus · HN ↗
                Yes, it is irrelevant. Negative value contribution.

                The AMA has been lobbying for MORE residency slots for decades.

                1. RussianBot9580 · · focus · HN ↗
                  If you took 30 years to deliver a project - would you still have your job? The fact that the AMA is still around means this is not one of the axes they are evaluated on. Classic misaligned incentives.
                  1. estearum · · focus · HN ↗
                    What specific job are you referring to that they’ve failed at?

                    Or you’re saying they failed at the made-up goal you wish they had, and therefore failed?

                    1. RussianBot9580 · · focus · HN ↗
                      I'm sorry for your memory loss.

                      The job was to increase the number of doctors by increasing the number of residency spots. The poor folks have been lobbying for 30 years, but they are just not too good at it, gosh darn it.

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