Premonitions of a Crisis

"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few."
-Matthew 9:37

Entering the working world produces many emotions, such as anxiety over one's performance, quiet resignation when dealing with peculiar co-workers, even that flat feeling one gets when shlepping home after a weary afternoon in the office.

These sentiments pale, however, with the thought of losing one's job. No one wants to live with the fear that they might be downsized or outsourced, yet reading the headlines reminds us that job losses continue to plague our country. Do these concerns ever apply to members of the medical profession? Doctors tend to worry about their ability to maintain their business, their skills, their enthusiasm for the daily sturm und drang of caring for the unhealthy. They don't usually fret over being cast aside, say, in favor of a nurse practitioner; on the other hand they often welcome the help. Is there such a thing as job security for physicians?

Well, after perusing today's news I can say that there sure as hell is job security for medical oncologists. Check out this headline:

Shortage of cancer doctors in coming years

The United States will suffer a significant shortage of cancer doctors over the next two decades, coinciding with an increased need for these specialists by aging Americans, a new report warns. Experts predict a shortfall of up to 4,080 oncologists by 2020. The shortage is being fueled, on the demand side, by an aging population and more cancer survivors and, on the supply side, by slowed growth in the number of oncologists available as more reach retirement age.

I must confess the first emotion I felt when reading this is best described as giddiness, followed by relief, in the sense that "I'm going to always have a job - Hooray!" Hooray?

This study, actually part one of a two-part project, predicts a 48 percent increase in cancer incidence and an 81 percent increase in people living with or surviving cancer, but only a 14 percent increase in the number of patient visits provided by the projected supply of oncologists between 2000 and 2030.

So the incidence of cancer is rising, yet fewer medical students are choosing to become cancer specialists. Suddenly elation shrivels like a corsage forgotten on a faded bookshelf. 560,000 Americans will die of cancer this year, more than the number of soldiers who died in World War I and World War II combined. What will it take to find good souls willing to devote their lives to reducing this obscene number?

Yes, I have job security and I'm grateful for the chance to serve those living with this vile disease. Wouldn't it be something, though if I was put out of business before being put out to pasture? Now that's a dream worthing staying awake for. Let us hope scores of budding physicians agree.