Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Forget Marcus Welby: Today's docs want a real life

An article on the SF Gate website profiles the new wave of medical school graduates, millennial and Gen X members who embrace technology, teamwork, and desire a life outside of work. The article cites a few ways medicine and training doctors has changed over the past 30 years:

• Part-time work has increased 13 percent for male doctors and 15 percent for female ones;
• New doctors in their first year of medical residency are restricted to a maximum 16-hour shifts and 80-hour work weeks;
• Only 1 percent of final-year graduates want to go into solo practice; and
• Larger numbers of medical school graduates are seeking specialties that offer flexible hours, such as emergency medicine and anesthesiology.

Darrell Kirch, MD, president of the Association of American Medical Colleges, says these new doctors aren't slackers and sees "no evidence that indicates that their ethical commitment is any weaker, that they care any less for patients."