An interesting set of survey results entitled "Key Findings from the 2008 Health Tracking Study Physician Survey" by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).

Lots of interesting tidbits in here as they break down physician attitudes towards compensation, career satisfaction, etc., by race, compensation level, working hours, and speciality.

I find it interesting to see by how much the specialties differ on certain issues.  Sure, pediatricians are much more like to be "very satisfied" with their careers (over half of you).  I also find it interesting that you are twice as likely to accept Medicaid patients (three times more likely than the surgeons - shocker!), though less likely to provide "free" care as a result.

Table 5 - Physicians With No Managed Care Contracts - is also quite fascinating...look at how far pediatrics lags in this regard.  Other specialties are 2-3x more likely to not take insurance than pediatricians.