you seem to be garnering a bunch of hostile responses, so I want to say I agree with you. And I think a lot of their "prestigious education" is somewhat "prestige theater". I believe it's artificial scarcity, either to keep the prestige high, or (somewhat cynically) to keep wages high.
Yes, there has to be a rigorous QA process to get your medical license and keep practicing. That's already covered by a state board of medical examiners. Where I think the artificial scarcity comes in is medical schools. There shouldn't be this "interview" process and excessive scrutiny, 6-figure tuitions, and do-or-die levels of pressure to simply learn how to practice medicine. I think this manufactures prestige.
There should be enough medical schools for virtually anyone who wants to get in. If idiots go they will flunk out at exam time. No need to screen them at the door. No need to ensure they have "straight-A's". What they need is the willingness to learn. It should be "to be a doctor, you need to learn topics {A,B,....Z}, and once you do, and demonstrate that to the board, you are a dr."
You should be able to start out emptying bedpans and have a ladder you can climb to get to physician. I can't think of someone who would make a better dr than one who has already worked 10 years in a hospital. Go from orderly/CNA, to nurse, to practitioner, to dr. And structure the education to work around this! Once you get to nurse, allow a 3 day-work, 2day school schedule. Even if it takes you 8 years, you have an MD with basically an entire clinical rotation completed. And (theoretically) no debt! Now this person doesn't need a $200k salary to pay back their tuition loans. Ultimately this could lower medical costs for everyone.
Yes, there has to be a rigorous QA process to get your medical license and keep practicing. That's already covered by a state board of medical examiners. Where I think the artificial scarcity comes in is medical schools. There shouldn't be this "interview" process and excessive scrutiny, 6-figure tuitions, and do-or-die levels of pressure to simply learn how to practice medicine. I think this manufactures prestige.
There should be enough medical schools for virtually anyone who wants to get in. If idiots go they will flunk out at exam time. No need to screen them at the door. No need to ensure they have "straight-A's". What they need is the willingness to learn. It should be "to be a doctor, you need to learn topics {A,B,....Z}, and once you do, and demonstrate that to the board, you are a dr."
You should be able to start out emptying bedpans and have a ladder you can climb to get to physician. I can't think of someone who would make a better dr than one who has already worked 10 years in a hospital. Go from orderly/CNA, to nurse, to practitioner, to dr. And structure the education to work around this! Once you get to nurse, allow a 3 day-work, 2day school schedule. Even if it takes you 8 years, you have an MD with basically an entire clinical rotation completed. And (theoretically) no debt! Now this person doesn't need a $200k salary to pay back their tuition loans. Ultimately this could lower medical costs for everyone.