A medical residency is not easy. Part of the coping mechanism involves complaining among your fellow residents about everything from the work hours to the deteriorating quality of vanilla pudding parfait in the cafeteria. Generally the discussion goes something like this:
Resident A: “The vanilla pudding parfait has too much whip cream and not enough pudding.”
Resident B: “We get paid fifty-thousand dollars a year for working eighty hours a week, and they can’t even have a respectable dessert in the cafeteria.”
Residenc A: “I am going to go have a chocolate parfait. That one comes with an Oreo.”
While Resident A is probably just partial to chocolate, Resident B’s observation begs for an obvious non-dessert-related question. If medical residents create such immense value at a low cost to hospitals, then increasing the size of the residency program must also be highly desirable. But the truth is even in the face of increasing demand for physicians, America is not making many more doctors to match the demand. Continue reading