May 8, 2024 Residency Newsletter

• Residents and Fellows Vote to Unionize
• Manage & Monitor Residents
• Is Private Practice the Right Option For You?
• ChatGPT and Pediatricians Inconsistent With Concerns

In 'Landslide' Vote, University of Chicago Residents, Fellows Move to Unionize

Union representation in healthcare remained around a steady 13% for the past decade, but 2023 saw an uptick in application and votes for unionization. Just how much and whether it is a permanent trend upwards is up for interpretation, but post-pandemic there is definitely a big increase in large healthcare strikes. One view says it is just overhang from negotiations stalled by the pandemic, another says it is pandemic burnout and the rapid growth of monolithic healthcare systems.

We suspect it will be an increasing trend, and will probably correlate closely to the distance between the medical practitioner and control of their environment. The behemoth healthcare companies that have formed since the ACA was passed and since doctor-owned hospitals became illegal, have made labor struggles inevitable.

In 'Landslide' Vote, University of Chicago Residents, Fellows Move to Unionize

Successfully Manage & Monitor Residents

Med-Challenger for Residency Programs allows you to easily and effectively manage and monitor your residents with comprehensive reports, assignments, and communications.

Learn More About Med-Challenger for Residencies

What I Wish I Knew in Residency About Private Practice

The AMA has an interview with Dr. Daniel Choi about private practice versus employment. Note that Dr. Choi is a spine surgeon. As he says in the article, private practice isn’t dead, but the deck is stacked. It also depends on what you call private practice - the 42% figure used by the AMA for their private practice number includes practices that are owned outright by health systems. On the other hand, after the post-ACA acquisition binge and the Urgent Care fad, private practices are getting re-established in a lot of care niches.

What I Wish I Knew in Residency about Private Practice - AMA

ChatGPT Found to Display Lower Concern for Child Development 'Warning Signs' Than Physicians

ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) are incredibly sophisticated search and summarization engines. There’s a lot of stuff they can do, including rudimentary physical diagnosis, and occasional flashes of insight when confronted with a bunch of confounding factors.

But they aren’t going to do subtle well. While it’s likely that LLMs will improve, they’re always going to be better at providing information about signs of developmental delays than making clear guidance. Too many other things go into the physician’s diagnosis. ChatGPT, in particular, is going to be reluctant to ever call anything abnormal.

The more post-processing instructions you give a ChatBot to make it ‘safer’, generally the worse it’s going to be at making clear statements.

ChatGPT Found to Display Lower Concern for Child Development 'Warning Signs' Than Physicians