Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Coyote
Great points!
Sometimes, we forget the doctors also have hefty student loans to repay.
I live near a teaching hospital. Some of the area pdocs have been trying to recruit young doctors as they finish med school, as we are very short on pdocs here. The young doctors refuse to do direct patient care, citing the inadequate income and the inability to repay all of their loans if they do not take administrative positions. 
I wonder what this will all look like even just 3 years from now?
Love to All!  |
What will happen is we will lose choice. The average age of a psychiatrist is in the 50s. There are fewer medical students choosing psychiatry as a field. That is a disaster waiting to happen. The demand for psychiatric care is skyrocketing and the supply of physicians is dwindling. Inpatient psychiatrists are hit hardest. They do the most demanding, complex, and sometimes dangerous work. Fewer new psychiatrists want that kind of burden on top of medical school debt. PAs and NPs are being used to fill the gap, but for serious illnesses they really aren't competent.
If you have a psychiatrist and you have a good relationship with him or her, you will be in the minority is just a few years.