Obamacare: 83% of docs considered quitting

[about_average]

I am a Physician's Assistant...

And we need more. I've worked with and been treated by PA's on numerous occasions and never found fault. In fact I'm often more impressed with PA's than MD's. For the majority of GP type things, and some specialties, PA's have the skills required to provide quality treatment.

I'm surprised this program isn't promoted more: http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/scholarships/index.html

 

[mercury14]

So right off you admit to having lied one time in your previous post and now:


1. How do current changes in the medical system affect your desire to practice medicine? (oh, the ACA does not take effect until 2014 so it is not yet current)
2. How do you assess the overall current path of the medical system in the U.S.? (see above disclaimer)
13. How will you respond to lower Medicare/Medicaid payments?
17. How do electronic health records impact medical privacy & confidentiality?
18. Are you hesitant to voice your opinions about health care politics, policy or legislation because of reaction from your patients, colleagues or administrators?
22. Will requiring individuals to purchase insurance result in improved access to actual medical care?

Repeal part or all of PPACA?
Prohibit government rationing of care?
Reforms to deliver medical care instead of "insuring" people?



These cannot be interpreted as "How does the ACA . . .?"

All of these questions relate to portions of the act and you know it.

Perhaps if you weren't so interested in apologising for the democratic party, you might have realised that I am not supporting this survey's accuracy or validity - just validating that it was indeed about the ACA and everyone who returned it read those questions the same way.

Nope, you're wrong (and I admit to no lie WTF?), these questions are not specific to the ACA. Heaps of doctors are unhappy with how the practice of medicine is changing and have been unhappy since long before Obamacare. Then when Obamacare comes along we're going to attribute their unhappiness to recent reforms which mostly don't exist yet? That's absurd.

There's a question about the mandate and a question about repeal (which I mentioned already), sure. But the whole thing is being distorted greatly. The survey is being interpreted such that any doctor who is unhappy with changes in the medical system in general must be attributed to the Affordable Care Act. And that's just not true.

(Not to mention the sample in the study instantly invalidated the whole thing from the start)

 

[KingOrfeo]

And we need more. I've worked with and been treated by PA's on numerous occasions and never found fault. In fact I'm often more impressed with PA's than MD's. For the majority of GP type things, and some specialties, PA's have the skills required to provide quality treatment.

I'm surprised this program isn't promoted more: http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/scholarships/index.html

Frankly, I'd think we'd have a higher quality of doctors if you had to spend a couple of years in some kind of practical apprenticeship, as a nurse or P.A. or EMT or something, before a medical school would even look at your application. (I hold similar views regarding other professions. E.g., nobody who has not served at least two years as an enlisted man should be eligible for West Point or Annapolis or any O.C.S.)

 

[about_average]

Frankly, I'd think we'd have a higher quality of doctors if you had to spend a couple of years in some kind of practical apprenticeship, as a nurse or P.A. or EMT or something, before a medical school would even look at your application.

I agree. That's why I spent a year volunteering weekends (24-36 hour stretches) in a very busy emergency room when I was 16, and later was an EMT and worked at a hospital in the ER and ICU.
I later changed my mind while in college about what I wanted to do. But I'm very glad I spent the time doing what I did when I was 16, because it was before the days of extreme liability concerns so very little of the time was spent stocking supplies or filling out paperwork. Many (most?) cars on the road didn't have seat belts. Even fewer people wore them.

But, we'd probably have even a greater shortage of doctors.

 

[Bad_Doggie]

and everyone who returned it read those questions the same way.

Did they? How do you know?

These cannot be interpreted as "How does the ACA . . .?"

If that’s what they meant then why didn’t they write that?

And if not, why didn’t they write that?

The questions are poorly defined; the questions should’ve been posed to minimize interpretation problems and thus reduce measurement/interpretation errors. Same goes for the potential answers.

So we can toss poorly defined questions/answers on the pile of errors made in this survey as well. In fact, at this point, it’s difficult to see what has been done in a reasonable, let alone, accurate way in this survey/report.

Woof!

 

[phrodeau]

I've encountered more than a few doctors with only a feeble grasp of English. Nuanced questions like those would likely puzzle them.