by Nick Jacobs

What’s this generation coming to? It started some years ago with new rules for residents. They no longer were permitted to be worked 80+ hours per week as part of their residency. In fact, many residents actually keep time sheets and then tell their MD/Professors when their work week is complete. It wasn’t that many generations ago that student nurses and residents were the only people working the night shift in even prestigious medical centers.

What else is happening? New generations of physicians are actually seeking to attempt to balance their work time with their free time. A front page article in the Wall Street Journal by Goldstein reported that U.S. medicine is in the middle of a cultural revolution. According to the article, young physicians are beginning to challenge the fact that they must be available to treat patients around the clock. According to President Ronald Davis, M.D., “There has been a sea change in how young physicians today balance professional responsibilities and personal needs, compared to their colleagues from a few decades ago . . .Physicians who manage their own stress and feel happy with their own daily circumstances are probably better physicians.”

As a hospital CEO in Pennsylvania, we are seeing “The Perfect Storm,” as catastrophic liability insurance is no longer available to our physicians. Ninety plus percent of our State’s finishing residents are leaving. The newer physicians who are considering staying in State are actually demanding free time, comprehensive call coverage, and weeks of vacation and continuing medical education time. Quality of life issues?

So, as 78 million Baby Boomers head toward the proverbial wall, we not only have a significant shortage of gerontologists and other sub specialists, we are also faced with young, smart physicians who actually want a life. Hold onto your hats.