Nearly half of primary care doctors in the United States feel overworked and plan to either cut back on how many patients they see or quit medicine entirely, according to a survey released on Tuesday. Of the 12,000 general practice physicians asked, 60 percent found they would not recommend medicine as a career. “The whole thing has spun out of control. I plan to retire early even though I still love seeing patients. The process has just become too burdensome,” the Physicians' Foundation, which conducted the survey, quoted one of the doctors as saying. The survey found that of those asked, 78 percent believe there is a shortage of primary care doctors. More than 90 percent said the time they devote to non-clinical paperwork has increased in the last three years and 63 percent said this has caused them to spend less time with each patient. Eleven percent said they plan to retire and 13 percent said they plan to seek a job that removes them from active patient care. Twenty percent said they will cut back on patients seen and 10 percent plan to move to part-time work. Seventy six percent of physicians said they are working at “full capacity” or “overextended and overworked.”
