Doctors of VN

#352
#352
TennVOLS93 said:
Agreed. I am working to get into PA school currently and the thought of a corporation like Wal-Mart employing an army of clinicians scares the hell out of me. Yes they drove the cost of OD's down (as an 18 year old kid, this is what I wanted to be), but they also killed their salary. Thanks to corporate eye care, new grad OD's are starting out making 65-70K. Considering the amount of debt it takes to attend optometry school, that is absurd. I'm not going into healthcare for the money. But I need to be able to pay the $100,000 it will cost me to attend PA school. From what little data I have gathered in the east TN area, PA's are averaging anywhere between 95-115K (depending on specialty), which is sufficient for the amount of debt incurred. KiddieDoc, you may be able to confirm?

People just assume Physicians, NP's, and PA's are just over compensated health care providers. Most do not understand the debt absorbed in these schools and compared to the time, money, and sacrifices made, are more underpaid than overpaid.
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My son went straight through UTK PreMed (4yrs) Med School (4yrs) Residency (3yrs) and has over $250,000.00 debt after 11yrs of school. He turns 30 next year, has a good job as an ER Doc, but intends on paying off his loans as fast as possible. ONCE AGAIN (without taking out more "doctors' loans" the banks are glad to give, he can only live in an appartment and is saving for a down payment on a car. He will be 33 before he has his debts paid down enough to start looking for a home to buy in a town he does not want to make permanent but is contracturally nailed to for several years. He's not married.

A couple of his friends he graduated UT with in 2010 have finished a masters in engineering. One aerospace, one chemical and both had their advanced degree costs reimbursed by their employers. Both are married with one or two kids, have new homes. One the builder let them customize. ...

What I'm getting at is they both have settled lives they've been living with little or no school debts for at least five years now. My son is is still a couple years out from that.

So giving all that up to be a doctor, what's that worth?

$50,000 a year? More? Less?
 
#353
#353
508mikey said:
but if it is high, is it possible to lower it or is it to late ?
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A1c reflects blood glucose levels over the past three months. It comes down with time if your blood sugar is lowered. High levels can indicate the progression to diabetes or poor control of a known diabetic condition.
 
#354
#354
Orangedogsrule said:
My son went straight through UTK PreMed (4yrs) Med School (4yrs) Residency (3yrs) and has over $250,000.00 debt after 11yrs of school. He turns 30 next year, has a good job as an ER Doc, but intends on paying off his loans as fast as possible. ONCE AGAIN (without taking out more "doctors' loans" the banks are glad to give, he can only live in an appartment and is saving for a down payment on a car. He will be 33 before he has his debts paid down enough to start looking for a home to buy in a town he does not want to make permanent but is contracturally nailed to for several years. He's not married.

A couple of his friends he graduated UT with in 2010 have finished a masters in engineering. One aerospace, one chemical and both had their advanced degree costs reimbursed by their employers. Both are married with one or two kids, have new homes. One the builder let them customize. ...

What I'm getting at is they both have settled lives they've been living with little or no school debts for at least five years now. My son is is still a couple years out from that.

So giving all that up to be a doctor, what's that worth?

$50,000 a year? More? Less?
Click to expand...

That's painful to hear. $250k is a boatload of debt. I always recommend prospective med students to look for scholarship programs, not to automatically assume that the most expensive schools are the best route, and to look at underserved area or other assistance programs. You can't really pay on loans with Resident pay, but you can avoid amassing more debt.

I was fortunate to attend UT on full scholarship, and I had a chunk of my loans paid by a state program as my county was considered "underserved" when I started my practice. I paid off the rest within 3 years. That's a nice weight to drop.
 
#356
#356
508mikey said:
but if it is high, is it possible to lower it or is it to late ?
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Some can't control it without medication. But many people definitely can reduce A1C with diet and exercise. So far, I've been able to control mine whenever the number creeps up.
 
#357
#357
kiddiedoc said:
A1c reflects blood glucose levels over the past three months. It comes down with time if your blood sugar is lowered. High levels can indicate the progression to diabetes or poor control of a known diabetic condition.
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I got the later one - I have controlled it well, but let down my guard the last few months didnt eat right and not much working out -- question now is can I return to controlling it the way I used to or is it to late for that ?
 
#358
#358
508mikey said:
I got the later one - I have controlled it well, but let down my guard the last few months didnt eat right and not much working out -- question now is can I return to controlling it the way I used to or is it to late for that ?
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I pulled a similar stunt last year. I was able to drop it from 6.4 to 5.7 in 6 months.
 
#360
#360
kiddiedoc said:
This
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A question for you as Dr -- Do many Drs look down on patients that that make poor decisions, like I made ? I am devastated with the result enough and cant stop obsessing over what he is going to say when I go back later this week
 
#361
#361
508mikey said:
A question for you as Dr -- Do many Drs look down on patients that that make poor decisions, like I made ? I am devastated with the result enough and cant stop obsessing over what he is going to say when I go back later this week
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Are you asking if you're going to get Sugar-Shamed?

"Look down on" suggests more of a personal judgment of somebody, to me. I think that good doctors feel more a sense of disappointment/discouragement when patients don't follow treatment regimens and it negatively affects them. Believe it or not, most of us actually WANT to see our patients get better/live healthy lives.

Besides, if grown-ups stopped making bad decisions, a bunch of docs would be out of a job.
 
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#362
#362
kiddiedoc said:
Are you asking if you're going to get Sugar-Shamed?

"Look down on" suggests more of a personal judgment of somebody, to me. I think that good doctors feel more a sense of disappointment/discouragement when patients don't follow treatment regimens and it negatively affects them. Believe it or not, most of us actually WANT to see our patients get better/live healthy lives.

Besides, if grown-ups stopped making bad decisions, a bunch of docs would be out of a job.
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Well I learned my lesson - Im just hoping he can trust me to do better -- I am confidant I can get it back to normal ---
 
#367
#367
Coug said:
Do you all have to brush up on reading ECG strips as well in ACLS?
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It’s not so much reviewed, but you are expected to be proficient in rhythm identification in order to recognize rhythms and initiate the appropriate algorithm.


BLS and ACLS was combined into one class, but I’m not sure if that’s an AHA thing or just a facility thing.
 
#368
#368
Snow casualty #1- L2 Burst Compression Fx


Edit: Volatil’d 😑
 

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