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The comparisons between countries is hard because roles, processes and existence of other practitioners will vary a ton. High doctor-per-capita could be a sign
by Scoundreller 2y ago
The comparisons between countries is hard because roles, processes and existence of other practitioners will vary a ton.
High doctor-per-capita could be a sign of inefficient use of resources rather than being a good thing.
Examples: Do you need a prescription for stuff that's otherwise over-the-counter elsewhere?
Is over-the-counter stuff paid by (state) insurance if you get a prescription for people that don't value their time?
Do people go to the doctor anyway for every possible matter (e.g. cough/cold/flu in otherwise healthy people)?
Do you have to make a pointless appointment with your GP every year to confirm you still have that incurable disease in order to keep seeing your specialist? Or renew that allergy med prescription every allergy season? Or go once for a lab test, and then again in-person just to find out the results, even if they're negative?
Who puts in most IV lines? In some places it’s a doctor, other places, nursing staff.
- vkou 2y agoIf we're going to talk about inefficient use of resources, maybe we could start with the education requirements. In the US and Canada, doctors spend years getting useless degrees before they are allowed into medical school. In Europe, they somehow get through medical school without them. (Not that any of this would matter because the incentives of the residency system are perfectly set up to make it impossible to train any more doctors.)
- Scoundreller 2y ago100%. The US/Can approach also limits/compresses the potential career length. Make it ~6 years and out, straight from high school (if you so please). It kinda works like this already in Quebec: you can enter medical school straight out of CEGEP. It's also a meritocratic matter: you have to take a lot of risk to make a go for medical school, and the best candidates may not be able to afford the risk of failing to achieve their med school goal and ending up with a degree with ??? value, so the best may not take that path. Or worse, taking an easier degree program (to beef up their grades and have time for other application-enhancing activities) and not getting themselves educated to their full potential.
- whimsicalism 2y agoHm, guess who lobbies for those education requirements?
- throwaway2037 2y ago> Do people go to the doctor anyway for every possible matter (e.g. cough/cold/flu in otherwise healthy people)? I lived in Hong Kong for many years and observed this habit amongst local staff with private insurance. (If they did not have private insurance, I highly doubt this behaviour would persist.) It was bizarre. And the "doctor" would happily prescribe medicines for a common cold!