The Downsides to gap year before med school

blossom
Tue, 22 Jul 2025 15:41:41 +0000

NiceUnparticularMan:

I get that is a complex subject, but to me, complaining about the speculative marginal effect of gap years seems to really be dodging that central issue.

Exactly. From my observation, doctors who are retiring now are doing so because their autonomy has eroded significantly given the buyouts/corporate ownership of their practices, insane amounts of paperwork for lower insurance payments, and a lot of administrative hassles. It has nothing to do with their age. My mom’s geriatrician retired at 85-- if he’d taken a gap year way back then, it certainly didn’t impact his longevity as a solo practitioner at all.

My friends who are taking early retirement are doing so because the ratio has now flipped- they are still working 18 hour days, but the majority of those hours are now non-patient hours. We’re worried about an extra year when our health care system is driving experienced providers out of the profession? We’re losing an entire decade of patient care due to frustration with the system!