[quote=sdrealtor]
My friend hasnt worked in the US for over a decade and his perspective is not to think our model is best. He is in the trenches and sees what goes on. Hope you enjoyed the Thai information also. He said they do a number of things very well there. The biggest difference he emphasized about US physicians over the Thai (and many other countries) physicians is the ability to think outside the box to find solutions when things arent exactly as they were taught. In Thailand if they dont see something fitting exactly in their frame of reference they refer you to someone else and this can go on and on. His point was that the concept of American ingenuity is very real.[/quote]

This might add some context. Where I went to school medical schools were not attracting the top talent. The most prestigious were electrical engineering and mathematics and almost all of the top achievers were aiming at those. Mechanical and civil engineering and medical schools were seen as kind of a second tier schools for hard working students who lacked the creativity and problem solving skills of the top performers.

Law, economics and political sciences were the bottom. You go there if you fail at everything else.

Consequently, most of the physicians were not outside the box thinkers. Here you get more of that, but they float up and unless you are a professional athlete or have access to top hospitals you won’t be treated by a top performer.