Why do medicine

Is medicine worth it?

June 10, 2009

  My top post of all time addresses this question – Why become a doctor? I received a recent email from a 20 year old college student who asked me about this issue.  As I have pondered this email, I searched for the proper words.  Readers know that I love being a physician.  But this [...]

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Why become a doctor – more issues

November 21, 2008

  Please first read my classic post – Why become a doctor redux? Recently I have had two important questions asked about this subject. I wanna know is it worth it to become a doctor? How much money do they got a year like a family doctor or something in that area? How many years [...]

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In which the NY Times publishes an anti-P4P article

September 9, 2008

  The Pitfalls of Linking Doctors’ Pay to Performance The program is called pay for performance, P4P for short. Employers and insurers, including Medicare, have started about 100 such initiatives across the country. The general intent is to reward doctors for providing better care. For example, doctors receive bonuses if they prescribe ACE inhibitor drugs [...]

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On becoming a doctor – why?

April 10, 2008

I wrote about this 3 years ago.  Interestingly with my new plugin, I find that searching this question is still very popular.  Today someone wrote this question: Is it at all possible to keep a balance in a life of medicine? can you have the best of both worlds? having time to travel and spend [...]

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Reminding us why

August 1, 2005

Sometimes medical students and housestaff forget why they decided to become physicians. And then sometimes patients remind them why. A student of solace and love I was a fourth-year medical student when I met the two patients. The rotation, a rite of passage, is the month or two during the last year of medical school [...]

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Why become a doctor redux?

April 7, 2005

A reader asks – So I'm curious, since so many doctors I've talked to (both young and old) say "don't do it, it's not worth it” can you point to something you'd say makes it worth it? Is there something different about the path you've chosen, or is it more about your attitude? I realize [...]

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Why become a doctor? 2005

April 7, 2005

I often write about why I am so happy that I choose medicine as a profession. Some physicians do not share my ongoing joy. Some enjoy the profession for a period of time – then something changes. The Bioethics Discussion Blog has this interesting post on this topic – Uncertainty and the Life of a [...]

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Sometimes we cannot really talk about our jobs

December 28, 2004

Being a physician has challenges and benefits. I had this explicit discussion with my new intern and resident this morning (special holiday schedule team). When we walk into a patient’s room and introduce ourselves, the patient and family generally like and respect us. We start out receiving the benefit of doubt and only lose repect [...]

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