Physician shortage is hurting rural hospitals
As noted in an item posted here on Feb. 15, New York recently stepped up its efforts to attract physicians to the state’s underserved areas. Now Maryland is sounding the same drumbeat with a Daily Times article about how small communities are struggling to keep area hospitals viable, “But as local doctors have moved away . . . or retired during the past 10 years, the ranks [in one hospital] have fallen from seven full-time surgeons to two. There also are only two anesthesiologists; one is nearing retirement.”
The article continues:
“From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, several national advisory groups, including the Institute of Medicine and the Council on Graduate Medical Education, issued reports forecasting a surplus of physicians. As a result, medical schools voluntarily held enrollment relatively constant at about 16,000 new students a year. From 1980 to 2005, enrollment was flat while the U.S. population grew by more than 70 million, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.”
The medical schools were “woefully wrong” in their calculations, says Josef Fischer, who as chairman of surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston trains new surgeons every year. “It’s going to be tough in this situation to make it better.”
Doctor shortage hurts rural hospitals [Via The Daily Times]
From Medical Economics magazine, more on physician shortage ...
Permalink
RSS
© 2007
This article exemplifies the ignorance of physician’s education. By increasing the amount of medical school positions you are only growing the already devastating pool of out of work doctors whom have finished medical school but cannot find an open residency position. Do people not know that we have to finish a residency in some specialty to be allowed to work as a fully licensed physician?
The NRMP (National Resident Matching Program) places 99% of all graduates into residency programs. According to the NRMP, there were 22,240 1st year positions available this year. There were 44,598 applicants competing for those positions. This includes 22,626 U.S. medical seniors and graduates. So do educated people not do the math? That leaves 22,358 qualified M.D.’s with out a position and ultimately, out of work for as long as they can’t get into a residency. There are also 386 U.S. seniors and graduates who will not get residencies. This will compound and has been compounding for years.
So do we need more medical students to increase the amount of practicing doctors? Is that a joke? There are tens of thousands of M.D.’s out there right now that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to mention a decade or more of their lives preparing for a prestigious, altruistic profession who will never work as physicians.
Why? You tell me. Why aren’t there more training programs out there? I understand they are expensive and time consuming. Are they more expensive then the thousands if not millions of people who are deprived of health care, especially in rural areas? I think being a doctor is a rip off. It is a huge risk with a small reward, if they can even make it to that point. And we think the oil industry is holding out. Wait until the U.S. people find out how the supply of doctors is being withheld from the American people. All for what??? To keep the supply down so prices are high and the government can’t force us even lower. Somebody answer me that. Why?