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Wed 29 Jan, 2003 09:38 pm
One of the hottest political topics today is how to best handle the growing medical crisis in the US. As a result, many potential physicians are lured into other, less problematic fields.
Today I went to an interesting fundraiser for my local AAUW. We honored three women who were outstanding in their fields, a politician, a musician, and an oncologist. Each woman told of how she broke into the "man's world", and dealt with the discrimination that they found.
The oncologist, who is in her early 50s, made some very interesting points. She related that when she went to medical school, there were 15 women in a group of 100 students. Today, at her alma mater, the ratio is 50-50.
She spoke of the different slant that women physicians bring to medicine, the nuturing attitude that many of their male counterparts often lack. Then I thought of what medicine was for me when I was a kid. Is anyone here old enough to remember "house calls"? In the 40s and 50s, if you had a sick kid, or you were sick yourself, the doctor would come to your house to examine you.
In that way, the doctor was more than a medical diagnostician. He met your family, and was able to understand the milleau in which you lived. Medicine, in those days, was referred to as a "calling". Many doctors worked with the sort of ardor that one expects from the clergy. The doctor was a healer, not just a purveyer of medical services. There were specialists, but they were only used in a serious emergency. The "family doctor" took care of everything.
The 60's changed the entire picture of medicine. Doctors found that they could see many more patients, and make much more money, by having sick patients come to the office. The role of specialists bloomed. As technology became more sophsticated, a vast new array of physicians emerged. And these physicians charged big bucks.
Quickly, young men realized that doctoring was a lucrative business, and many chose medicine, not simply because they felt the "call", but because it was a fast track to the good life. Specialists and subspecialists earned a more than comfortable living, without really KNOWING their patients. Doctors went from being healers to savvy businessmen.
In the last decade, due to many circumstances which I won't go into here, the medical profession has become a far less desirable option for potential doctors who are mainly interested in the business end of medicine. As men are turning their backs on the profession, women are filling the medical school slots formerly dominated by men.
What do you think are the political ramifications of this change in medicine? What do you think of the fact that the ratio of women and men in medical schools are evening out, and that possibly, in the near future, women will dominate the profession?
Just a quick blurb here but I don't think men are (or were) any more motivated to enter medicine for the money than women are (or were). I would doubt the salary issue has much correlation to to the percentage of people in medicine of either sex.
I think you'd find a much closer correlation in two other factors;
1 - the increase in women as doctors to the increase in awareness and facilities specializing in "women's health". Prior to the early 1970s such facilities didn't exist in any real number in the US. As women's health issues blossomed the number of women entering medical schools blossomed and
2 - many males attended graduate (including medical) schools as a method of draft deferrment through both the Korean and Vietnam wars. Once the draft was ended in the 1970s that "incentive" was removed.
Not specifically Phoenix but I think the whole women's health issue has raised awareness amongst female teens. It probably is a drawing factor to some extent but I don't know how much.
Overall, according to the AMA, medical school applications have risen by more than 250% since 1981. There are just a whole lot more people applying overall - many of those are bound to be women.
I have no idea how males see women doctors. I don't particularly like them but that doesn't have much to do with their sex. I don't like male doctors either! lol Personally, if I have to go see a doctor I just call and end up seeing the first one I can get an appointment with. Their genetailia is irrelevant to me. I just wanna be seen and get the heck out of there. Doctors offices give me the creeps.
My physician is a female from India. I've had her as my attending for about six years now, and I really 'love' her for the medical care she has provided me. I belong to Kaiser, and the docs are scheduled a patient every fifteen minutes, but she isn't a clock-watcher. A couple years ago, I had an 'emergency,' and she squeezed me into her busy schedule, and spent about one hour with me. I'll never forget that. When I went to India, she spent time to view my photo album. Our tour group stayed at the Taj Palace in New Delhi, and I took some pictures of the hotel. When she saw the photo in my album, she told me that her sister got married in that very hotel. When she returns to India for a visit, she told me that she always goes to the Taj Palace for dinner or lunch. The service there is phenomenol, but I'm getting off subject. Anyway, Dr Bhargava is the best doctor I've had in all my life, and I treasure her as my physician. I have two nieces who have chosen to become doctors. One is an ophthalmologist like her dad, and the other is specializing in neurology.
c.i.
Wow, Schweitzer, Einstein, and Welby, all rolled into one doc. He is a rarity, and I'd latch onto him with a short chain if I were you! c.i.
Phoenix32890
Quote:What do you think are the political ramifications of this change in medicine? What do you think of the fact that the ratio of women and men in medical schools are evening out, and that possibly, in the near future, women will dominate the profession?
Does it really matter? A good doctor is just that, a good Dr. man or women.
c.i.- Yes, he is rare, and probably saved my life!
au1929- I AM getting at something, but before I show my hand, I want to see if anybody is on my wavelength.
In the old Soviet Union, I am told, medicine was preeminently a woman's field of work.
I have been told, also, that the preeminence of women lowered the average doctor's earnings in the SU, in comparison with other professions, relative to other countries.
I don't quite buy the idea of males going into medicine for lucre, while women go because they want to heal people.
I've known healers, both men and women. Specialized "butchers", both men and women. And greedy doctors, both men and women.
As for distribution of students by gender, statistics point at the feminization of colleges and universities as a world wide phenomenon, not limited exclusively to certain areas of learning.
I have a friend who lives in Tanzania. Both he and his wife are physicians. My niece is an ophthalmologist and is married to a doctor. c.i.
fbaezer- You are getting hot!
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