When you consider the time and effort to become a physician and
the time, responsibility, and risk to continue to practice medicine I
believe that physicians are not overcompensated. Let's begin with
the commitment required to become a physician and the cost of
education. Physicians must make a significant sacrifice during the
educational process- grades and high challenge courses must be
achieved. This commitment begins no later than day 1 of college and
must be maintained for 4 years of college. Studies take importance
above all else. There is significant competition to even achieve a
place in the medical school class and students must have no less than
a 3.82 GPA (Kowarski, 2021). Then the cost of college and medical
school education is significant. The average medical school graduate
carries $241K of debt by the time they finish medical school. This
does not include any undergraduate debt that they may also carry
(Jacobi, 2022).
The journey to becoming a physician is long. 4 years of
undergraduate, 4 years of medical school, and then an additional 3-7
years as a resident. Again a significant commitment of time to
develop one's skills as a professional when priority is education and
lost opportunities for other employment, vacation, family, etc.
because of this continued commitment. During the residency, the
average resident works an 80 hour work week and the average pay is
$62K per year (Park, 2017) Do the math- that works out to be about
$16/ hour. "The physical and emotional demands on residents remain
without parallel in the modern American economy. Some of these
pressures are inherent in the nature of the profession: Most people
cannot imagine a workday mental lapse or error in judgment
depriving another of their hearing, brain functioning, or even life. But
those in the medical profession are expected to swallow hard, cry it
out, and be back the next morning for their 6 a.m. shift" (Park, 2017).
Upon graduation- there are significant costs for liability insurance,
licensure, staff, technology, etc, and the ongoing risks and
responsibility to patients and outcomes is significant every day. So
yes, I believe that physicians are fairly compensated for the benefits
they provide society. Perhaps before we challenge the salaries of
medical professionals, we should challenge the salaries of
professional athletes? Is it reasonable that they command such large
paychecks?
Jacobi, B. (2022, January). Doctors, their debt and national interest.
nydailynews.com. Retrieved March 7, 2022,
from https://www.nydailynews.com/
Kowarski, I. (2021, December). U.S. News & World Report: News,
rankings and analysis on ... US news.com. Retrieved March 7, 2022,
from https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/to
p-medical-schools/articles/2018-10-02/how-high-of-a-college-gpa-
is-necessary-to-get-
Park, R. (2017). Why so many young doctors work such horrible hours.
The Atlantic. Retrieved March 7, 2022,
from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/02/docto
rs-long-hours-schedules/516639/
