10 Facts About Doctors You Should Know

We might have mentioned that we have some insight into the world of doctoring. Which makes us not exactly an impartial source of information on the topic. Stated another way, our allotment of 10 facts could be used to tell a variety of stories. We want to tell a story that makes you feel kind of bad for doctors. Is that biased? Of course. But it’s the internet, and we’ve been told that we can write just about anything. So here are 10 facts about doctors you should know. (That’s American doctors, by the way.)

 

1

The average education-related debt after medical school approaches $250,000, with perhaps 18% of graduates having debt of over $300,000.

 

2

Depending on the medical specialty, post-graduate training (called residency and/or fellowship) can take anywhere from 3 to 7 years. Add that to the 4 years of undergraduate studies and the 4 years of medical school, and doctors devote 11 to 15 years after high school to finally start practicing independently. In other words, for a male, assuming an average American life expectancy, that can get close to 20% of life.

 

3

During the aforementioned residency, residents can work up to 80 hours per week. Perhaps averaging 60 hours per week across specialties, residents work at least 50% more than the general population. As such, a 3-year training encompasses 4.5 years of work, while a 7-year training can equate to 10.5 years.

 

4

Work hours can ease up after training, with one survey placing the typical physician work week at 51.4 hours, or about 28% longer than the standard work week.

 

5

Over a lifetime, the average primary care doctor will earn around $6.5 million (with the vast majority of that earning coming after age 30). CEOs of the largest non-profit hospitals can top that in one year.

 

6

Many healthcare organizations have favored hiring nurse practitioners and physician assistants who, in some cases, can provide the same work as doctors at a cheaper cost to the organization. That’s a brilliant move from a management standpoint, yet somewhat unsettling to those who have lived the preceding statistics. Which may partly explain the next point.

 

7

In one survey, 7 out of 10 physicians were unwilling to recommend healthcare as a profession to their children or other family members.

 

8

42% of physicians report feeling burned out. While the exact definition of burnout is not standardized, symptoms include exhaustion, cynicism, loss of empathy, and a reduced sense of accomplishment. Both physician and patient well-being can suffer as a result.

 

9

According to one study, 12.9% of male physicians and 21.9% of female physicians abuse alcohol, compared to 6.2% of the U.S. population aged 18 years or older.

 

10

Estimates suggest that the suicide rate among doctors is 28 to 40 per 100,000, which is more than double that of the general population (13.42 per 100,000).

 

So be nice to your doctors when you see them. They’ve sacrificed a lot of time and money to get to where they are, and they could be struggling with some serious burnout. But don’t worry. You can still talk behind their backs.