This is what I felt when I read the article. It was surprised even the Australian system is just as overloaded as our American system. I feel like a lot of these problems could be deal with if there were simply more doctors.
That being said, it's a difficult profession. Not a lot of people want to do it. Even fewer in such specialised positions as surgery, where mistakes literally cost people lives. There's no rolling back to a previous release or taking a break. Everything that happens, happen on that table with that body open.
Tack on the insane costs, at least in America, for going to school to be a doctor and you also have a situation where few people feel they can afford to be GPs (even though that might be what they really want to be; and the world needs more GPs desperately) and you also have doctors who are now locked into a profession to simply paid their debts.
> I just recently had a friend completely burn out of medicine, sell his house, and start traveling the world.
The high cost of medical school seems directly related to the restriction on the number of physicians. Because only N seats are available whereas maybe 10*N seats would be desired in a free labor market, each school can charge immensely for each seat. The most idealistic will still be willing to apply and take on the debt.
Of course, I'm no expert in this stuff, this is just my hot take. I'm sure it's hugely more complicated.
I don't think a sabbatical is a bad thing at all. But this is more than that, and it's driven by burnout rather than a simple desire for refresh and reflection. That's what I think is negative here.
>That being said, it's a difficult profession. Not a lot of people want to do it. Even fewer in such specialised positions as surgery, where mistakes literally cost people lives. There's no rolling back to a previous release or taking a break. Everything that happens, happen on that table with that body open.
I recommend reading "When Breath Becomes Air". The author's friend (a general surgeon) has a patient die on the table. He goes into great emotional distress, eventually committing suicide.
Brilliant, good hearted people being pushed to self destruction. Not the way an industry should want to behave.
That being said, it's a difficult profession. Not a lot of people want to do it. Even fewer in such specialised positions as surgery, where mistakes literally cost people lives. There's no rolling back to a previous release or taking a break. Everything that happens, happen on that table with that body open.
Tack on the insane costs, at least in America, for going to school to be a doctor and you also have a situation where few people feel they can afford to be GPs (even though that might be what they really want to be; and the world needs more GPs desperately) and you also have doctors who are now locked into a profession to simply paid their debts.
> I just recently had a friend completely burn out of medicine, sell his house, and start traveling the world.
I don't think this is a bad thing. Everyone who can afford to should really save up and take a sabbatical every few years: http://khanism.org/perspective/minimalism/