19 Facts: Conversation Starters for Doctors

In the process of doing this weekly e-column for physicians, I find that I must keep myself informed. Hopefully, looking out for the medical profession.

So I do a lot of reading—Stephen King says it’s the key to being a good writer—and frequently run across interesting facts and figures. Many are what I think would make good conversation starters.

Here are a few I saw recently:

$205,000—Average annual salary for a professor at Harvard University.

(Wall Street Journal)

1 in 3.7 million—The chance of being killed by a shark during your lifetime.

(National Geographic)

$31,213—Average price of a wedding in the United States.

(USA Today)

$36,000—Annual salary for Vince Lombardi in his first year as head coach of the Green Bay Packers.

(When Pride Still Mattered)

$170,000—Total land acquisition and course construction costs for Augusta National Golf Club, home of The Masters.

(The Masters: Golf, Money, and Power in Augusta, Georgia by Curt Sampson)

3 minutes—Time it takes Warren Buffett to decide if an investment is worth pursuing.

(Time)

$47,212—Average annual family income for bottom 99% of American earners.

(Pew Research)

45%—Percentage of opioid-addicted patients who say they still get pain medicine from their physician.

(American Psychiatric Association)

$1.8 million—Average sale price for an apartment in Manhattan.

(New York Post)

$241,273—Average annual compensation for a primary care physician.

(Medical Group Management Association)

9.3%—Percentage of national healthcare dollars spent on prescription drugs.

(CDC)

$3.8 million—Average annual salary for a Major League baseball player.

(MLB Players Association)

$150,706—Average annual compensation for a US dentist.

(Salary.com)

$289,000—Cost for a one-year permit for a hot dog stand in NYC’s Central Park.

(The New York Times)

$355,900—Average annual compensation for a Wall Street financial worker.

(New York Post)

87%—Google’s share of the US mobile search market.

(DMR)

$411,852—Average annual compensation for a specialist physician.

(Medical Group Management Association)

$158,411—Average cost of a 30-second TV ad on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.

(Variety)

46%—Percentage of US smartphone users who “can't imagine my life without it."

(Gallup Poll)