10 Facts About Doctors

I’m a words person, while numbers have always intimated me. But doctors must have a command of both. Since I’m a journalist, I thought I’d do a quick news hunt and come up with some number facts that physicians might not know.

• 50% of US physicians say that they’ve consulted Wikipedia for information on health conditions, making it the single leading source of healthcare information for doctors. (IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics)

• 69% of Americans rate medical doctors “high or very high” for their honesty and ethical standards. Nurses were the top rated at 82%. (Gallup Poll, 12/2013)

• 20 physicians are currently serving in the United States Congress. This includes 3 US senators and 17 US representatives. Of the doctor-legislators, 16 are Republicans and 4 are Democrats. (AMA)

• 5 physicians were among the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. They were Benjamin Rush, Matthew Thornton, Josiah Bartlett, Lyman Hall, and Oliver Wolcott. (Physician Signers of the Declaration of Independence by George E. Gifford, Jr.)

• $169,901 — Average educational debt for a medical school graduate in 2013. (AAMC.org)

• 52% of practicing US physicians say they would choose another profession if they had a chance. (NerdWallet.com Survey, 2014)

• 11% of an average physician’s career is spent waiting for a medical malpractice case to be resolved. (RAND Corporation)

• 33% — Percentage of the time doctors who use electronic health records in the exam room are looking at a computer screen. (Medical Informatics)

• 53% of US physicians say they are self-employed working in private practice; 18% of doctors are in solo practice. (HealhtLeadersMedia.com)

• $1,086,145 — Annual salary for Antonio E. Alfonso, MD, professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, making him the highest paid public employee in New York State. (SeeThroughNY.net)