For New Doctors, 8 Minutes Per Patient
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The New York Times
May 30, 2013
At a social gathering not long ago, a colleague and I exchanged stories about residency training, fondly remembering the patients who had helped us grow both as doctors and as people.
A doctor-in-training we both knew listened intently to our conversation, but when we asked him about his experiences with patients, he looked lost and struggled for a response.
“My generation is different from yours,” he finally said, and then told us about getting “caught” sneaking back to the hospital earlier that year to talk with a couple of patients. He had already officially signed out for the night, but even going back just to say hello would count toward and push him over his 80-hour weekly work limit. Such a violation could cause his residency program to lose its accreditation.
“My generation is different because we can’t have the same relationships with patients as you did,” the young man said. “We just don’t have the time.”
His comment unnerved me then and for a long time afterward. I knew he was being honest about his own experiences, but I couldn’t believe that the same held true for all doctors-in-training. After all, most people I knew became doctors because they wanted to interact with patients.
Now a new study confirms what the young doctor told us: doctors-in-training are spending less time with patients than ever before.To read more about the study’s finding click here.
