3 ms·

That's quite a workload you've set for yourself. I honestly don't know how my doctors do even the basic stuff I see them do, like seeing patients and charting.

That's quite a workload you've set for yourself. I honestly don't know how my doctors do even the basic stuff I see them do, like seeing patients and charting. When you have to see 4+ patients in an hour (this is too many!), it would seem to me that charting would be one of the things that ends up going out the window. I also find it interesting that you go so far as to repeat your licensing exams. Is this common among physicians as a whole? Having known a couple of med students personally, these exams were usually seen as a hurdle to be overcome and a source of stress, but, I suppose it might get easier after a few years of practice. On a related note, I find it hard to imagine that, say, lawyers would routinely re-sit the bar exam for funsies. Regarding CME, isn't that required to maintain licensure? Or, are you talking about courses above and beyond the minimum to keep your license? And, BTW, I don't know who you are, where you practice, or even what your specialty is, but you sound like the kind of person I'd like to have be my doctor.

scrozier 6y ago
Interesting how people interpret things so differently. A doctor who says that keeping abreast of their field has no benefit to them sounds like the kind of person I'd not want as my doctor.
- pmiller2 6y ago
  I agree, but I also know how chronically overworked doctors are. That gives me a bit of sympathy toward the ones who don't want to basically work an extra day a week just to avoid falling behind.
- coffeemaniac 6y ago
  They specified no career benefit. I'm almost certain they view increased trust from their patients as a benefit, and the extra confidence you gain from keeping up with the latest clinical science is hard to measure in terms of personal value but almost certainly comes out to $0 in financial terms (or negative if you value your free time).
- wittyreference 6y ago
  > This does not have any career benefit whatsoever; it’s done so as to be worthy of our patients’ trust. "I do it for my patients, not for my paycheck." If you have a problem with that, then by all means, I'm sure you can find another physician that would suit you better.
wittyreference 6y ago
> Is this common among physicians as a whole? Some of it is, some of it isn't. The worst doctor you know (okay, maybe not the worst, but close) is doing at least a couple of major journals and his CME. Really, you'd be surprised, but sitting on the other side of the exam table, believe me - it's the exception that doesn't try to stay fresh. That's really not what distinguishes bad from good from great doctors - it's finding a way to integrate and retain all that knowledge so you can apply it in an unexpected clinical scenario, rather than as watercooler talk or on an exam. I don't re-sit step exams 1/2/3, but I do a lot of ongoing question banks to refresh my boards, and I do go back to refreshing material from step 1/2/3 all the time (which is what I meant about repeating licensing exams- I see now that phrasing was unclear.) You're right that it's largely a hurdle and a stress, but that's because as a med student you're drinking from a firehose and your career depends on it. Studying it at my leisure, I can dive into things as deep or as superficially as is interesting at the time, and the broader my knowledge gets the more insights I ultimately glean from going back to those fundamentals. Memorizing biochem pathways when studying for boards is hell; refreshing biochem at your leisure just to better understand and retain is... well, if not pleasant, it's certainly not hell. CME is required to keep your license, but that's not a problem that I have - there are multiple sources of materials that grant CME credits that I already do "for fun", so I've got an over-abundance of credits. I hunt-and-seek interesting CME courses to stay abreast of interesting things. I went into medicine for love of medicine, and the idea of getting so narrow into my niche that I lose sight of all of those other exciting things would be a tragedy to me. As much as I appreciate the praise, honestly, you'd be surprised by how much even your least-impressive physician puts into staying up to date. There's just so much to know that the moment you stop your knowledge base evaporates.

scrozier 6y ago

Interesting how people interpret things so differently. A doctor who says that keeping abreast of their field has no benefit to them sounds like the kind of person I'd not want as my doctor.

pmiller2 6y ago
I agree, but I also know how chronically overworked doctors are. That gives me a bit of sympathy toward the ones who don't want to basically work an extra day a week just to avoid falling behind.
coffeemaniac 6y ago
They specified no career benefit. I'm almost certain they view increased trust from their patients as a benefit, and the extra confidence you gain from keeping up with the latest clinical science is hard to measure in terms of personal value but almost certainly comes out to $0 in financial terms (or negative if you value your free time).
wittyreference 6y ago
> This does not have any career benefit whatsoever; it’s done so as to be worthy of our patients’ trust. "I do it for my patients, not for my paycheck." If you have a problem with that, then by all means, I'm sure you can find another physician that would suit you better.

wittyreference 6y ago

> Is this common among physicians as a whole? Some of it is, some of it isn't. The worst doctor you know (okay, maybe not the worst, but close) is doing at least a couple of major journals and his CME. Really, you'd be surprised, but sitting on the other side of the exam table, believe me - it's the exception that doesn't try to stay fresh. That's really not what distinguishes bad from good from great doctors - it's finding a way to integrate and retain all that knowledge so you can apply it in an unexpected clinical scenario, rather than as watercooler talk or on an exam. I don't re-sit step exams 1/2/3, but I do a lot of ongoing question banks to refresh my boards, and I do go back to refreshing material from step 1/2/3 all the time (which is what I meant about repeating licensing exams- I see now that phrasing was unclear.) You're right that it's largely a hurdle and a stress, but that's because as a med student you're drinking from a firehose and your career depends on it. Studying it at my leisure, I can dive into things as deep or as superficially as is interesting at the time, and the broader my knowledge gets the more insights I ultimately glean from going back to those fundamentals. Memorizing biochem pathways when studying for boards is hell; refreshing biochem at your leisure just to better understand and retain is... well, if not pleasant, it's certainly not hell. CME is required to keep your license, but that's not a problem that I have - there are multiple sources of materials that grant CME credits that I already do "for fun", so I've got an over-abundance of credits. I hunt-and-seek interesting CME courses to stay abreast of interesting things. I went into medicine for love of medicine, and the idea of getting so narrow into my niche that I lose sight of all of those other exciting things would be a tragedy to me. As much as I appreciate the praise, honestly, you'd be surprised by how much even your least-impressive physician puts into staying up to date. There's just so much to know that the moment you stop your knowledge base evaporates.