Millennial Generation Essay

The face of the health care industry is morphing like never before. It seems as though the new supply of physicians and health care professionals from the millennial generation find their smartphones and tablets just as useful as any other medical tools. As one of the most studied generations, millennials have saturated the current workforce. This group, defined as Generation Y, consists of young adults age 18 to 34 and are the most connected age group, according to the Nielsen Company. They are able to connect the real world and the virtual world, and communicate across the globe.

Unlike the older, baby boomer generation of physicians that proceeded them, those of the millennial generation, fresh out of medical school or in their first five years of practice, are moving toward some surprising—and perhaps not so surprising— trends and inclinations in the medical community.

Technology and Social Media

The digital age is certainly upon us. Doctors like Megan Janson agree that physicians of the younger generation are more apt to use technology when working. “For many of us, it is easier to work with an EMR [electronic medical record] than it is a paper chart because we are so used to the workings of a computer system and having to type is not seen as a time-consuming event—in fact, I type way faster than I can handwrite so I prefer to type when I can,” says Dr. Megan Janson, the Florida Academy of Family Physicians Resident President for 2013 to 2014.

Though not all physicians of older generations are stringently against adopting technology (and not all young physicians are eager to adopt it), there certainly seems to be a strong correlation between the age of the physician and the use of new technology. Sixty-four percent of ...

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... are prime opportunities for errors. In addition, overall time that residents work in the hospital has not been increased. I am concerned that residents will leave residency without the full learning opportunity provided by longer time spent in the hospital, as well as spending less time with attending physicians who role-model professionalism, communication skills, clinical reasoning and management,” says Dr. Minor.

The Future Outlook

Those in the medical field are on the brink of a new era in health care. Medical schools are graduating some of the brightest students in the world who are putting their tech-savvy skills into practice. And though Generation Y physicians are facing the brunt of the health care changes, this new wave of physicians are open to new ideas and new modes of thinking, and therefore are able to bring a fresh new outlook to health care.