Future Physicians of America

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According to a hilarious survey done by Epocrates, Inc., “medical students are determined to make a difference in future patients’ lives by capitalizing on technology and focusing on patient-centered care”. The eighth annual Future Physicians of America of 1000 medical students survey revealed the following (I only wish I had the Placebo Journal around to do this justice):

  • Patient-Centered Care is the New Norm—Patient-centered care, the involvement of patients and families in treatment and decision-making, is fully embraced by future physicians. An impressive 72 percent of medical students said they are likely to practice patient-centered care. The key to their success as physicians may lie in cultivating solid and effective physician-patient relationships that drive superior patient outcomes.

Editor’s Note: Then they realized how little family medicine pays and choose otherwise.

  • ACA: Both Good and Bad?—Medical students indicated the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have both a positive and negative impact on the practice of medicine. Many anticipate that the ACA will result in practicing more preventative care (46 percent) and will offer expanded patient coverage (45 percent). However, students worry that they will have less time with patients (52 percent) and will lose clinical autonomy (34 percent).

Editor’s Note:  Sounds like they understand it as much as we do.

  • What’s an ACO?—Despite being major emerging trends in health care, medical students are still perplexed when it comes to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and Meaningful Use. In 2011, 76 percent of students felt uninformed about ACOs, and two years later, they still feel they do not know enough about the topic (72 percent). Only 28 percent of students feel informed or somewhat informed about ACOs and Meaningful Use.

Editor’s Note: The reason they don’t understand it is because it is a bunch of horse crap.  But they will be tortured with it, that’s for sure.

  • Medical students entering the Digital Omnivore era—Forty-four percent of today’s medical students are Digital Omnivores: defined by Epocrates as a person who uses a tablet, smartphone, and computer routinely in a professional or academic capacity. The effective use of all platforms of technology allows medical students to deliver better and more efficient patient care. Mobility is key: Fifty-four percent of medical students currently use a tablet as part of their medical training, a staggering 31 percent increase over last year.

Editor’s Note:  Good for them.  How about teaching them how to actually look at the patient when they are talking?

  • Worries about Financial and Information Burdens—Today’s medical students noted their number one reason for choosing medicine is a desire to help people, but they have significant concerns too. Medical students worry about the high cost of education and loan burdens, the staggering volume of information to learn, and burnout; and they sacrifice family time, money, social life, and sleep.

Editor’s Note: Hence why they will not do “patient-centered” care, which basically is family medicine, because it pays so little.

  • Medical schools fail to prepare students for practice management—Only 17 percent of students plan to go into solo or partnership practice. One factor may be the lack of preparedness. Thirty-seven percent of medical students expressed dissatisfaction with the training they are receiving in practice management and ownership—business skills critical to the successful running of any health care enterprise—and 41 percent indicated they lack instruction in billing and coding.

Editor’s Note: They are not being taught this for a reason.  They are being groomed to let administrators do that for them so they will become the minions of these said administrators.