An interesting article was published by the AMA a couple of weeks ago.
It revealed some pretty interesting findings.
First, it found that physicians are leaving clinical practice prematurely nine years younger than they did just 18 years ago. Among this group leaving clinical practice prematurely, they are doing so at an average age of 48.1.
The factors cited by the study leading them to quit include the “hassle factor”; stress; unrealistic patient demands; and lack of professional satisfaction.
The article goes on to point out that nearly two-thirds (2/3) of physicians leaving clinical practice prematurely are women.
The article states:
Women have been an increasing proportion of those entering medical schools over the past decade. In 2023–2024, women comprised 55.4% of matriculants and the proportion of active residents who were women was 48.2%.
It explains why these women leave the profession:
The study found that of the 521 respondents who left clinical practice, women physicians were likelier than men to have done so. Their reasons included:
- Caring for family members—7.9% versus 0.6% for men.
- Caring for young children—21.7% versus 4.2%.
- Health concerns—13.8% versus 3.8%.
- Too much stress—31.7% vs. 12.9%.
This is all very predictable, of course.
The AMA, like clockwork, then goes on to advocate that “gender disparities” within medicine be eliminated in order to prevent women from leaving the profession and contributing to physician shortages.
Society expends enormous resources training physicians. It is insane to put all those resources behind training those who are going to leave the profession prematurely. And yet, most of those enrolled in medical school now are women. We are asking for these problems.
Yes, there is a major “hassle factor” built into the current practice of medicine because of electronic health records and physician employment by hospital systems. Yet, we are rebelling against God’s design when we admit more women than men into the medical profession.
My understanding is that back in the late 1960s medical schools weighed the lifespan of potential service as a physician an applicant would provide to society, thus discriminating a bit against women (interruption for childbearing/caring) and against men who were over 35 years old for that reason.
I had not heard that, J. Sobran, although I suspect you are probably right.
This is quite a mess. But don’t worry– there is a boatload of nurse practitioners to replace them! 🙂
They used to tell us when we were in medical school how much it cost to educate us. Back during the early to mid 1980’s, it was approximately $125,000 per student per year in a state school. Tuition was probably less than 10% of that. I can’t imagine what the cost is now.