The Physician Workforce: A Medical School Dilemma

2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 97-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Wood
2019 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Young ◽  
Humayun J. Chaudhry ◽  
Xiaomei Pei ◽  
Katie Arnhart ◽  
Michael Dugan ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT There are 985,026 physicians with Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degrees licensed to practice medicine in the United States and the District of Columbia, according to physician census data compiled by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB). These qualified physicians graduated from 2,089 medical schools in 167 countries and are available to serve a U.S. national population of 327,167,434. While the percentage of physicians who are international medical graduates have remained relatively stable over the last eight years, the percentage of physicians who are women, possess a DO degree, have three or more licenses, or are graduates of a medical school in the Caribbean have increased by varying degrees during that same period. This report marks the fifth biennial physician census that the FSMB has published, highlighting key characteristics of the nation's available physician workforce, including numbers of licensees by geographic region and state, type of medical degree, location of medical school, age, gender, specialty certification and number of active licenses per physician. The number of licensed physicians in the United States has been growing steadily, due in part to an expansion in the number of medical schools and students during the past two decades, even as concerns of a physician shortage to meet health care demands persist. The average age of licensed physicians continues to increase, and more licensed physicians appear to be specialty certified, though the latter finding may reflect more comprehensive reporting. This census was compiled using the FSMB's Physician Data Center (PDC), which collects, collates and analyzes physician data directly from the nation's state medical and osteopathic boards and is uniquely positioned to provide a comprehensive snapshot of information about licensed physicians. A periodic national census of this type offers useful demographic and licensure information about the available physician workforce that may be useful to policy makers, researchers and related health care organizations to better understand and address the nation's health care needs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie P. Phillips ◽  
Andrea L. Wendling ◽  
Carolyn A. Fahey ◽  
Brian E. Mavis

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (sup2) ◽  
pp. 21-22
Author(s):  
Matthew Shoemaker ◽  
Savannah Spataro ◽  
Weldon Havins

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Crump ◽  
R. Steve Fricker ◽  
Craig H. Ziegler ◽  
David L. Wiegman

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. HSI.S10462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica M. Babcock ◽  
Blake D. Babcock ◽  
Marshall Z. Schwartz

Currently, in the United States there is a significant physician workforce shortage. This problem is likely to persist as there is no quick solution. The nature of this shortage is complex and involves factors such as an absolute physician shortage, as well as physician shortages in primary care and certain specialty care areas. In addition, there is a misdistribution of physicians to medically underserved areas and populations. The medical education system trains medical school graduates that eventually feed the physician workforce. However, several factors are in place which ultimately limits the effectiveness of this system in providing an appropriate workforce to meet the population demands. For-profit medical schools have been in existence in and around the continental US for many years and some authors have suggested that they may be a major contributor to the physician workforce shortage. There is currently one for-profit medical school in the US, however the majority exist in the Caribbean. The enrollment in and number of these schools have grown to partially meet the ever-growing demand for an increase in medical school graduates and they continue to provide a large number of graduates who return to the US for postgraduate medical training and, ultimately, increase the physician workforce. The question is whether this source will benefit the workforce quality and quantity needs of our growing and aging population.


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