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Old 01-22-2008, 01:45 AM   #2
norcalguy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 5,938
In no particular order:

1. Huge debt-average medical student graduates with approx. $150,000.00 worth of debt

2. Long schooling-4 years of undergrad, 4 years of medical school, 3-8 more years of residency/fellowship

3. Declining salaries-physician salaries have declined approx. 7% in the past decade when you account for inflation

4. Long work hours, lack of a family life

5. Competitive admissions to medical school-60-90% attrition rate in premed at most colleges before application; among those that apply, 50%+ still don't get in anywhere

6. Rising malpractice premiums-malpractice has been increasing by around 10-15% a year for the past two decades

7. Loss of autonomy-the average physician today has less autonomy and patient trust than the physician 40 years ago; bureaucracy and fear of litigation has pretty much restricted the freedom a doctor has to practice

8. Mean, arrogant patients

9. Mean, arrogant colleagues

10. Mean, arrogant premeds

Outside of that, it's a lovely profession.
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