Does Your Doctor Like His Job?

It turns out that your doctor may be unhappy in his or her chosen field. A recent survey by StopPagingMe.com, of more than 170 physicians found that more than half of doctors surveyed admitted that at some point during their training they seriously considered changing specialty.

(PRWEB) September 9, 2005 -- It turns out that your doctor may be unhappy in his or her chosen field. A recent survey by StopPagingMe.com, of more than 170 physicians found that more than half of doctors surveyed admitted that at some point during their training they seriously considered changing specialty.

StopPagingMe.com, The Online Housestaff Community, has become the last word in medical training since exploding onto the web nearly two years ago. Recently, they have conducted surveys of physicians, most of whom have recently graduated, on a host of topics from pharmaceutical reps to fibromyalgia.

This most recent survey polled more than 175 physicians, via the internet, on how and why they selected their medical specialty. Typically, medical students in the United States are expected to choose their selected field after their third year, in which they rotate through several of the possible choices available to them. They then apply during their fourth (and last) year of medical school for a residency that will vary in duration, hours required, and degree of specialization.

The majority of doctors surveyed reported that they were unsure of their choice, even as they applied for their specialty. Only 14% knew what they wanted to do coming into medical school. Some physicians remarked that only after completing a full residency in one specialty did they realize that they wanted to do something completely different.

The reasons why doctors chose their field were a particular focus of the survey. More than half (54%) of MDs answered that they chose their specialty because they loved that particular branch of medicine. On the other hand, approximately one quarter responded that they based their decision on what their lifestyle would be like in the future. Money, difficulty of training, and reputations associated with certain fields all had very little impact on their choice of specialty.

When asked to what degree different factors contributed to their decision, most of the doctors said that love of the material was crucially important. Other key factors, though, included lifestyle as an attending physician, torture level of the residency training, and the likelihood that they would be accepted into the training program to which they applied. Family influence and peer pressure had very little impact on their selection.

The most significant question of the survey also produced the most evenly divided responses. When the doctors were asked if they had ever considered leaving their specialty for another, eighty-nine (50.6%) replied 'yes, while eighty-seven (49.4%) replied 'no. This could be considered a revelation to both doctors and patients, many of who believe that physicians have wanted to do what they do their entire lives. Doctors, themselves, are often reluctant to admit that they are unhappy in their chose field for fear of what their peers might think and reluctance to start training all over again.

Why were almost half of the physicians unhappy? Despite the fact that more than 60% felt their training was 'pretty much what they expected, more than one-third felt that they did not have adequate exposure to the fields available to them. Most likely, once these doctors began spending more time in the hospital they were able to get a more candid look at both there own specialty and the others around them. Other reasons for unhappiness in ones field came from the unfortunate fact that some doctors are forced into specialties that were not heir first choice because of the competition for training spots in the more popular fields.

While doctors realize that not all of their peers are happy in their specialty, this is the first time satisfaction has been quantified.

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