Читать книгу The Complete Medical School Admission Guide: From High School to Doctor - Dr. Paul Jr. Toote - Страница 6

Your career as a physician will be mainly defined by what your specialty is and what environment you choose to work in.

More general practitioners and internists, as well as pediatricians, OB/GYNs and psychiatrists, work in small private offices or clinics, and usually will have a small staff of nurses and other administrative workers helping to run their practice and serve their patients. Group practices and healthcare organizations are becoming increasingly popular for doctors, as they can easily provide backup coverage as well as more time off. This means they are less independent than the doctor who operates his or her own practice, but they also have less demands on their time and a resulting reduction of stress as a result.

Surgeons and anesthesiologists, in contrast, work in hospitals or surgical outpatient centers, as they must have access to facilities where they can perform or assist in operations. From a physical standpoint, their work involves standing for long periods of time during these surgeries.

Despite the increasing group-effort nature of working physicians today, many doctors and surgeons still work long and inconsistent hours. For example, in 2008, 43 percent of all doctors worked 50 or more hours during the week, while a third worked 60 or more. Besides their regular practice hours, doctors must also travel between their offices and hospitals or clinics to care for whatever patients are currently in treatment.

Even when they’re not at the office or at the hospital, a physician can still be on call, which means a patient can phone during the dinner hour - or even when the doctor is asleep if the patient has a medical emergency or an urgent question. Of course, the doctor may even have to make a last-minute trip to the hospital if a patient takes a sudden turn for the worse.

If doctors have a heavier demand on their time than most occupations, the good news is that they are also among the highest-paid professions. According to the Medical Group Management Association's Physician Compensation and Production Survey in 2008, primary care physicians had an average annual income of about $186,000. Specialists earn a great deal more, with a yearly compensation approaching $340,000. These numbers obviously vary from area to area, and are also dependent upon the doctor’s years of experience, skill level, reputation, and so forth. Self-employed physicians (those who own at least part of their medical practice) are generally higher earners than physicians who draw a salary at a hospital or clinic.

And more good news – the long-range employment forecast for doctors is quite positive. The number of doctors needed is expected to grow a great deal faster than all other occupations, with a 22 percent spike over the next 10 years. The demand will be highest in rural and low-income areas.

What’s behind the increased demand? Healthcare related industries continue to expand – due, in large part, to an aging population that’s growing in numbers as the Baby Boom generation transitions into retirement. This large group will require much more healthcare. There are also many doctors in that generation who will be retiring along with the rest of their peers; they will need to be replaced. Many medical schools are, in fact, increasing their enrollment limits because they foresee this increased need for physicians.

Because the elderly will be the primary group driving this new doctor demand, certain specialists will especially be needed. For example, because heart disease and cancer are more prevalent among the elderly, more cardiologists, oncologist and radiologists will be called for.

As for today’s doctor employment picture, roughly 665,000 physicians are currently working today. About 12 percent of those are self-employed with their own practices, while around 53 percent work in the offices of other physicians. Nineteen (19) percent are employed by hospitals, while the remaining group practice either at government facilities, educational services, or outpatient care centers.

How many doctors practice what kind of medicine today? According to the American Medical Association, this is the breakdown of the major categories by percentage:

Internal Medicine: 20.1%

Family Medicine/General Practice: 12.4%

Pediatrics: 9.6%

OB/GYNs: 5.6%

Anesthesiologist: 5.5%

Psychiatry: 5.2%

General Surgery: 5%

Emergency Medicine: 4.1%