However, I do not choose to demean myself by charging for telephone calls. I am convinced that practitioners who give into this penny-ante urge are doing themselves, their patients and their profession no favors. There's talk these days about how medical practice has lost its allure and pleasure. Maybe it has. This is reflected by the fact that fewer medical school graduates are entering the field of solo practice, preferring large, multi-specialty groups instead.
Solo practice is viewed by young doctors as being less financially rewarding.
However, the real luster of medicine isn't gold. It never has been. And a dedication to service is about as popular among many modern doctors as emptying bedpans. This trend is a shame. This was a principle upon which the great medical centers were based.