If the kids had choices, they would not choose hospitals where shifts are 40 hours long and only sleep of 6 hours out of those 40 every thing else being equal. They don't, because of the power that the hospitals have over residents in granting their licence and the cultural ubiquity in practice.
Similarly, there are very limited spaces to enter medical school and it's extremely difficult to enter. How many new orthodontists are trained in a year? Under a 100? In a country of 300 million people? On top of that, medical school is very expensive. On top of that, you have to go to university for 3-4 years before you can even enter med school.
Imagine if engineering degrees were like that, because they could of been. Similarly with accounting or finance. Maybe they're not because the math heavy nature is enough of a barrier, even the simple math of accounting. American medical schools (and doctor associations) could choose to structure their curriculums to be similar to an engineering degree, admit high school students and make the education be 5-6 years long, teach in the summer, whatever. I'm fairly sure the UK does that, and I'm not sure if they haze their residents too with 40 hour shifts. They can also release the spigot, hire more teachers and teach more students to increase the supply of doctors. The increased supply of doctors will lead in a decrease of overall doctor wages and decrease health care costs. That along with an FDA drug approval process that doesn't cost 200 million and more clearly defined and easy to avoid malpractice rules (as in it's not easy to commit malpractice by mistake) would lead to huge systemic decreases in US health care costs alone.
Don't tell me it's about wanting the best, because treating people with sleep deprived residents is negligent. That is no where near the best care for any sort of patient. The best will just walk away once they know that they can make more money doing less work in i-banking, tech, petroleum, engineering, or business in far nicer environments, and they do by droves.
Similarly, there are very limited spaces to enter medical school and it's extremely difficult to enter. How many new orthodontists are trained in a year? Under a 100? In a country of 300 million people? On top of that, medical school is very expensive. On top of that, you have to go to university for 3-4 years before you can even enter med school.
Imagine if engineering degrees were like that, because they could of been. Similarly with accounting or finance. Maybe they're not because the math heavy nature is enough of a barrier, even the simple math of accounting. American medical schools (and doctor associations) could choose to structure their curriculums to be similar to an engineering degree, admit high school students and make the education be 5-6 years long, teach in the summer, whatever. I'm fairly sure the UK does that, and I'm not sure if they haze their residents too with 40 hour shifts. They can also release the spigot, hire more teachers and teach more students to increase the supply of doctors. The increased supply of doctors will lead in a decrease of overall doctor wages and decrease health care costs. That along with an FDA drug approval process that doesn't cost 200 million and more clearly defined and easy to avoid malpractice rules (as in it's not easy to commit malpractice by mistake) would lead to huge systemic decreases in US health care costs alone.
Don't tell me it's about wanting the best, because treating people with sleep deprived residents is negligent. That is no where near the best care for any sort of patient. The best will just walk away once they know that they can make more money doing less work in i-banking, tech, petroleum, engineering, or business in far nicer environments, and they do by droves.