In the past, doctors were expected to talk to patients and make as sound diagnosis of their medical conditions. Doctors would probate and ask questions, trying to learn about patients every symptom before prescribing a proper remedy. If it seemed necessary, doctors would perform extra tests or X-rays on patients to make sure that their diagnosis was correct. Now, this is not necessarily the case. The New York Times reports that training doctors are told to spend a maximum of eight minutes per patient when making their rounds in hospitals.

One training doctor tells The New York Times that this generation of medical students is different from previous ones. He says that he is told that he cannot exceed his 80 hour per week maximum. Sometimes, this doctor says that he would sneak back into the hospital after he had signed out for the night so that he could say hello to some patients that he had hardly spoken to that day. This doctor says that in the past he was reprimanded for sneaking back into the hospital, and told that violating the work hours agreement could cause his residency program to lose its accreditation. The young man told a New York Times Reporter that he is not able to sustain relationships with any of his patients because he just simply doesn't have the time to do so.

A new study shows that medical students and new doctors are spending less time with patients than ever before. Interns and residents spend their time quickly bustling from patient to patient and doing the bare minimum so that they can see as many people as possible in one day. The New York Times reports that back in the 1908's training programs were put under increasing pressure to limit work hours for young doctors. One study in particular shows that doctors in training only spend about 20 percent of their time with their patients, and most of their time is devoted to hospital paperwork or tasks that do not have to be done by a doctor. These include drawing blood or inserting catheters into patients.

In 2003, the government mandated that medical students be limited to 80 hours of work per week during their practice. Interns at hospitals and doctor's offices had their work week restricted again by a law that demands hospital workers cannot spend more than 16 hours working per week. This phsyicians-in-training must have mandatory naps and sleep times, and are demanded to have at least one day off a well. The Journal of General Internal Medicine reports that while the intentions to limit medical workers' hours were noble, the did not turn out to do as much good as people hoped.

Researchers at John Hopkins University shadowed interns at a local hospital and learned that they only spend about 12% of their time on a shift actually talking to patients. These means that they only spend about eight minutes per patient between treatments and conversation. Interns spend almost half of their work day in front of a computer screen logging documents and checking records.They are not supposed to spend time actually discussing a person's symptoms with the patient, but instead gather information from the records on file and then make the actual appointment as brief as possible.

Young doctors are told to visit more patients in a short amount of time, and are told that this is the efficient way to run a hospital. Doctors are instructed to avoid open-ended questions, or to even fully introduce themselves. As a result, symptoms may get overlooked and misdiagnosis is possible. If you believe that you were misdiagnosed or a physician failed to diagnose you with an illness because he or she did not take the time necessary, you may be able to seek compensation. Talk to a medical malpractice attorney near you today if you want more information or want to learn if you have a legitimate case.