This NYT article regarding college students’ recruitment to Wall Street is compelling. The author highlights the financial incentives that direct students to financial careers – and away from graduate degrees like medicine.
Blog Archives
This is a Soul
I wanted to put in a plug for a book I’m reading called, “This is a Soul: The Mission of Rick Hodes” by Marilyn Berger. The book chronicles the work of Dr. Hodes, an American doctor who has lived in Ethiopia for over three decades assisting children with horribly severe – oftentimes lethal – spinal problems (frequently tuberculosis-related). Dr. Hodes himself has adopted several sick Ethiopian children.
During his emergency medicine training, my husband worked with Dr. Hodes and was tremendously impressed with his dedication. Here is more information about Rick Hodes and the work he does.
Tags: Ethiopian Children, Hodes, Tuberculosis
The Good News and The Bad News…and Then More Bad News
There is a clearly-written article by Jan Greene in the current issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine about fifteen new, U.S. medical schools that are currently being accredited and slated to open. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates that this increase will lead to an additional seven thousand medical school graduates every year throughout the next decade.
Sounds great, right? More chances of getting into a US medical school!
Well, no so fast.
The idea behind opening these new schools was to preempt the impending doctor shortage, but, as Greene points out, the new medical school openings will not solve the scarcity because there are no plans to increase the number of residency spots. In fact, in fourteen years, the number of teaching hospital residency spots for which Medicare pays a share (about thirty percent) has not increased. With Medicare cuts in the works, it’s unlikely residency positions will expand or that hospitals will have extra funds for unsupported spots.
Unfortunately, this means more competition for residency spots for everyone, especially International Medical Graduates. (The domestic graduates will likely be prioritized by residency directors.) And it means no solution to the doctor shortage. Unless funding for training programs increases, which seems unlikely, future doctors should expect a bottleneck at the post-graduate level. Bad news for doctors and the American medical system.
Causes of the PCP Shortage
Here‘s a basic but useful article in Newsweek on the causes of the primary care doctor shortage. I think the way specialists are portrayed at the end is unfair, but it’s still worth a read.
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Tags: March 2010
Physician Shortage
Here’s an interesting NYT article focusing on the predicted U.S. physician shortage. It’s worth a read particularly because it describes how residency slots are funded, something many people don’t understand.
Tags: May 2009
Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more
