Yes, I get it – primary care isn’t glamorous. Maybe that’s why medical students are avoiding the field:

As a patient’s entry point into medical care, primary-care physicians have a far less glamorous job than doctors in other specialties, Leominster pediatrician Terry Callahan said Thursday.

“You’re the one getting called in the middle of the night about the right dosage for Tylenol,” she said. “You get used to kids vomiting on you. But I think that’s kind of the personality of most pediatricians. We’re not really in it for the money or the glory.”

Doctors who perform surgeries or complicated procedures are paid better than referring physicians, Peelle said.

“Insurance companies pay doctors more for procedures,” he said. “You see a lot of young doctors going into medical school saying that they want to be primary-care physicians, but then they see all the paperwork hassles that come with primary care and all the things you’re not paid for — the camp physicals and the work excuses. Those students decide to go into dermatology or something.”