Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
PRESENT Practice Perfect Editor
Joined Mountain View
Medical & Surgical Associates
of Madras, Oregon July 2008 |
few weeks ago I was attending the medical staff meeting at one of my local hospitals. During these discussions, a physician who’d been in practice about 20 years made a curious comment. “These new doctors are a completely different animal. They’re nothing like us. They have a totally different work ethic.” Not quite vaguely implied by both this comment and the overall tone of the conversation was the belief that new physicians have a substandard work ethic in comparison with the “older” generation of doctors. I’ve heard statements like this before, and I take strong exception to this opinion. I wonder what the podiatric community – especially our more seasoned colleagues - thinks about this. Are “new” doctors different from “old” doctors?
In spite of my disagreement with the negative connotation noted above, I do, in fact, think that in many ways the younger generation of doctors is different is some ways from our senior mentors and colleagues. What I disagree with is the judgment that different is somehow bad. The idea that usually follows comments like the one above is that younger doctors are willing to spend less time at work, donating less of their non-office-hour time to inpatients, emergencies, and rounds, while still demanding high salaries. Instead, the new generation would rather spend time with their families and pursuing other interests beside medicine.
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Beside the obvious falsehood of this statement – why would we rather spend time in the hospital rather than with our families? – I question this idea in three ways. First, I’d argue that we as physicians have already donated many years and hard work to becoming doctors, deferring gratification for what we consider a better long term career and chance to do something good. Don’t we at least deserve the respect of our position (if not many years of experience)? I’d like the benefit of the doubt from my senior colleagues that, after all the time I’ve put in so far, I’m willing to put in the work necessary to be a good physician for my patients. I’d like the chance to prove my “work ethic.”
Second, isn’t balance important in our lives, no matter what work we do? How often have we heard the statistics about physician divorce? I’ve read it runs about 10% above the national average. Obviously, there are many factors that contribute to this, but I’ll wager that among them is the work load. This is evidenced by the fact the marriage during medical school (arguably the most intense workload) has a higher divorce rate than marriage after medical school. With the need for a balance in our lives, is it truly healthy to devote all of our attention to medicine, at the expense of our personal lives? Perhaps this “new” generation has a better perspective on the need for a healthy balance.
Third, I’d argue that, in many instances, the new generation of doctors already contributes too much time and energy to medicine, while in other instances many older physicians have indeed maintained a healthy balance between work and personal life. Perhaps the real question should be about over-generalizations. We’re not all workaholics, and we’re not all goof-offs.
I diplomatically reserved comment during the staff meeting, but perhaps a reasonable response would have been to explain that the comments made only served to isolate this doctor from the very “new” generation of doctors her “old” generation could be mentoring into the future.
Keep writing in with your thoughts and comments or visit eTalk on PRESENT Podiatry and start or get in on the discussion. We'll see you next week. Best wishes!
Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
PRESENT New Docs Editor
[email protected]
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