Though significant restrictions on supply do exist, the problem does not seem to be nearly as bad in Australia as in the USA [1]. In Australia there's ~15 medical graduates per 100k vs ~8 in USA.
The doctors in Australia are still definitely overworked though. A decent number of the people I went to school with became doctors in Australia, and though we work roughly the same number of hours (~60-70hrs/week), my work in the software industry is like a stroll in the park.
It was remarkable to hear my male friends who became doctors admitting that they had broken down crying in meetings with their boss because of workplace stress and exhaustion.
there's more than 12 times the number of people in the US. Yes i understand this is "per 100k", but this still kind of reads like "adding lanes to highways does not reduce traffic," and that means that there is some other issue. If you have more doctors, more people will go to the doctor. This is good, more people should go to the doctor, because early and preventative care reduces the overall cost burden on the system.
And i don't want to put this in its own comment or even continue reading the defense of doctors (as they stand now): Women get shafted so hard by the medical community. People with mental health issues get screwed by the medical system. Both get their problems written off for non-medical reasons. There are bad practitioners just like there are bad developers and bad general contractors and bad bridge builders and bad pilots. The whole system is not very good and i don't see, necessarily, how merely adding more medical degree holding people to the mix will improve things. There isn't enough patient advocacy, there's too much friction with medical insurance (in the US).
>I had worked in a hospital where I didn’t get home for days at a time, sleeping overnight in hospital quarters, outpatient clinic benches and in my car. I used to have my sleeping bag, toiletries and change in the boot of my car because I didn’t know if I was going to make it home some nights. Plans change every single day at work because of emergencies. I can’t even be sure what the next hour will bring when I am on call.
This is absolutely insane. Are we reading a town doctor's tale or a war tale?
Its not just limiting the numbers, but also the way matching is done. The current way is that upon admission to med school, you must be willing to accept just about any practice specialty. This is another thing that could be flipped on its head by allowing you to be any kind of doctor, provided that you attain the required MD and complete training.
Yes, I know, certain medical specialties are very competitive, but (IMO) they should be forced to admit you if you pay for the training. For instance, if I could be a radiologist, I would. But I dont want to be any other kind of doctor. They could say "ok, you will be eligible for radiology residency upon earning an MD and completing some standardized program proving you learned the book-side of radiology. Upon completion of that, (and , say 1 year of generalist MD work), then some radiology residency essentially has to admit you. Not interview for it, and jump up and down like a puppy, and based on how likeable you are, maybe, they let you in.
This could open the door for non-traditional doctors in general: Word could get around, "hey, this podiatry program is cool, 2 years training, 1 year public service, and you could earn $200k", knowing what kind of dr you will be might have an interesting effect in attracting people who otherwise would have never considered it (to fill the unpopular specialist roles like podiatry or psychiatry).
While it's true that there is a limit (really there is a limit to every university study), there is also a limit to the number of people who are qualified and interested.
For instance, there are only about 20k people who score > 510 on the MCAT per year (the average matriculant has about a 512). And remember that includes US & Canada.
While I know there are a lot of people rejected from medical school each year, some probably should not be accepted to medical school. I think we could probably increase the number of seats by about 20%.
The American and Canadian medical schools place a high bar on accepting students, so nearly everyone who is accepted graduates. It's uncommon for medical students to perform poorly.
But this isn't true everywhere. Some places prefer to admit many students and let them sink-or-swim.
It seems insane to me to first limit how many there can be, and then overwork the ones you do allow to become doctors.