"Primary care physicians are considered to not do as much as specialists," Manriquez said. "People have told me that generalists are less respected as doctors."
Glass, 29, agreed. "Primary care doctors don't have a lot of status in the medical field," she said. "But I've always focused on the big picture. I want to offer my patients a more holistic picture of health versus what a specialist does."
Glass said she wants to "form a long-standing relationship with her patients and empower them to be healthy."
In the minority: Despite their noble intentions, Manriquez and Glass know that they are exceptions in an otherwise depressing situation for the nation's health care system.
In the past 10 years, 90% of medical school graduates have opted to enter higher-paid sub-specialties like orthopedic surgery, radiology and dermatology. Only 10% have chosen primary care, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).
Kind of standard stuff. So Primary Care doctors (Family Practice, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics) get paid less money, are considered less prestigious, and less and less medical students are pursuing it.
Is this new(s)?
The hours are lousy, the on-call is worse, the paper work is a mess, oh, and did I mention the money? From my perspective (still an outsider) the pay is proportional to the years and intensity of education, and not proportional to the actual day-to-day work you'll be slogging through compared to other specialties and sub-specialties.
That's the real problem. That's why there's such a shortage in Primary Care Physicians.
Read the rest of the article HERE.
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