Too many women doctors 'will be bad for patients'

Submitted by AngryMan on Fri, 2008-04-04 06:02

Story here. Excerpt:

"Too many women doctors working fewer hours than men will ultimately result in a major shortage of GPs, a leading specialist warns today.

Growing numbers of female graduates threaten to put men in a minority in the profession, with serious consequences for patients, according to Brian McKinstry, senior research fellow at Edinburgh University.

The unwillingness of women GPs to work unsocial hours played a part in the ending of out-of-hours care by the vast majority of family doctors, he argues.

But part-time working, maternity leave and plans by many women doctors to retire early will have even more "negative consequences" in future, writes Dr McKinstry in the British Medical Journal.

Like0 Dislike0

Comments

... Dr. McKinstry's career is now over. Such is the price of speaking truth to power. But who knows, maybe that is his parting comment right before he retires, assuming he is "of that age"? Well, good luck to him, I say, in his future endeavors, whatever they may be.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by mcc99 on Fri, 2008-04-04 16:23

everyone (women mostly) in the "comments" section of the art. are so busy attacking they are not looking at his premiss.
i agree w/ him.
here's my take

1. there are many more women that men now attending and graduating from medical school.
2. there are only limited openings in medical schools.
3. we are already seeing the effects of the natural shortage of MD's. i just got back from my routine 2 hr wait in an overcrowded waiting room.
4. women leave the work force in significant numbers after graduation for a number of reasons, having children (maybe getting married, if they can find a husband) and not returning to the work force being the biggest reason(s). there are others.
5. if you crunch the numbers it has to follow that the number of doctors actually earning a living practicing medicine vs. the number of limited graduates will be lessened significantly over time. and the effect will probably be cumulative.

limited critical degrees in our society are going unused when this happens.

now if men start getting joint custody of children after her impending divorce (as they would in any sane society) this number might be attenuated , somewhat.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by daveinga on Fri, 2008-04-04 21:15

What strikes me is just how self-centred most women are.

What should be the main concern of any medical professional? Of course, the patients. But not for the women. For them it's "work-life balance", or "juggling".

And they talk about female "empathy"!

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by sirprince on Mon, 2008-04-07 12:23