scholarly journals Maintaining a Sufficient and Quality Physician Workforce: The Role of For-profit Medical Schools

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. HSI.S10462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica M. Babcock ◽  
Blake D. Babcock ◽  
Marshall Z. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Medical School ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
Physician Workforce ◽  
Workforce Shortage ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Postgraduate Medical Training ◽  
Physician Shortages ◽  
The Us

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.

scholarly journals FSMB Census of Licensed Physicians in the United States, 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Young ◽  
Humayun J. Chaudhry ◽  
Xiaomei Pei ◽  
Katie Arnhart ◽  
Michael Dugan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
Geographic Region ◽  
Physician Workforce ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
State Medical Boards

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.

scholarly journals Rurality and Origin–Destination Trajectories of Medical School Application and Matriculation in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 417
Author(s):  
Lan Mu ◽  
Yusi Liu ◽  
Donglan Zhang ◽  
Yong Gao ◽  
Michelle Nuss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical School ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
School Students ◽  
Rural Counties ◽  
Physician Shortages ◽  
The Us ◽  
Using Data

Physician shortages are more pronounced in rural than in urban areas. The geography of medical school application and matriculation could provide insights into geographic differences in physician availability. Using data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), we conducted geospatial analyses, and developed origin–destination (O–D) trajectories and conceptual graphs to understand the root cause of rural physician shortages. Geographic disparities exist at a significant level in medical school applications in the US. The total number of medical school applications increased by 38% from 2001 to 2015, but the number had decreased by 2% in completely rural counties. Most counties with no medical school applicants were in rural areas (88%). Rurality had a significant negative association with the application rate and explained 15.3% of the variation at the county level. The number of medical school applications in a county was disproportional to the population by rurality. Applicants from completely rural counties (2% of the US population) represented less than 1% of the total medical school applications. Our results can inform recruitment strategies for new medical school students, elucidate location decisions of new medical schools, provide recommendations to close the rural–urban gap in medical school applications, and reduce physician shortages in rural areas.

scholarly journals Prevalence of Medical Humanities Teaching in Medical Schools: Review of Curricula in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Howick ◽  
Lunan Zhao ◽  
Brenna McKaig ◽  
RAFFAELLA CAMPANER ◽  
Alessandro Rosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Medical Practice ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Uk

Rationale and Objectives Medical humanities are becoming increasingly popular, required, and recognized as positively impacting medical education and medical practice. However, the extent of medical humanities teaching in medical schools is largely unknown. We aimed to review medical school curricula in Canada, the UK, and the US. Our secondary objective was to compare the inclusion of medical humanities in the curricula with rankings of medical schools. Methods We searched the curriculum websites of all accredited medical schools in Canada, the UK, and the US to check which medical humanities topics were taught, and whether they were mandatory or optional. We then noted rankings both by Times Higher Education and U.S. News and World Report and calculated the average rank. We formally explored whether there was an association between average medical school ranking and medical humanities offerings using Spearman’s correlation and inverse variance weighting meta-analysis. Results We identified 18 accredited medical school programmes in Canada, 41 in the UK, and 156 in the US. Of these, 9 (56%) in Canada, 34 (73%) in the UK and 124 (79%) in the US offered at least one medical humanity that was not ethics. The most common medical humanities were Unspecified Medical Humanities, History, and Literature (Canada), Sociology and Social Medicine, Unspecified Medical Humanities, and Art (UK), and Unspecified Medical Humanities, Literature, and History (US). There was a negative relationship between the ranking of the medical school and whether they offered medical humanities. Conclusions The extent and content of medical humanities offerings at accredited medical schools in Canada, the UK, and the US varies. The quality of our analysis was limited by the data provided on the Universities’ curriculum websites. Given the potential for medical humanities to improve medical education and medical practice, this variation should be investigated further.

scholarly journals “They don’t have the history and the stature:” examining perceptions of Caribbean offshore medical schools held by Canadian medical education stakeholders

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e56-63
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Morgan ◽  
Valorie Crooks ◽  
Jeremy Snyder ◽  
John Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pass Rate ◽  
Student Body ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Education Stakeholders

Background: Caribbean offshore medical schools are for-profit, private institutions that provide undergraduate medical education to primarily international students, including from the United States or Canada. Despite the growing role that offshore medical schools play in training Canadian physicians, little is known about how these institutions are perceived by those in professional and decision-making positions where graduates intend to practice.Methods: The authors interviewed 13 Canadian medical education stakeholders whose professional positions entail addressing the medical education system or physician workforce. Participants were employed in academic, governmental, and non-governmental organizations in leadership roles.Results: Thematic analysis revealed three cross-cutting perceptions of offshore medical schools: (a) they are at the bottom of an international hierarchy of medical schools; (b) they are heterogeneous in quality of education and student body; and (c) they have a unique business model, characterized by profit-generating and serving international students.Conclusion: Consistent growth of the offshore medical school industry in the Caribbean may result in adverse reputational harms for well-established offshore or regional medical schools. Both comparative (e.g., USMLE pass rate) and intuitive factors (e.g., professional familiarity) informed participants’ perceptions. Participants believed that core principles of social accountability in medical education are incompatible with the offshore medical school model.

scholarly journals The Impact of the US Financial Crisis on How Students Pay for College

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur M. Hauptman
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Federal Financial Aid ◽  
For Profit ◽  
American Students ◽  
The Us ◽  
Home Values ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Private Loan ◽  
Us Financial Crisis

The 2008 failure of major financial institutions in the United States may have dramatic ramifications on American students and whether/where they attend college. Several sources of funding may be at risk, including potential decreases in federal financial aid, the tightening of private loan availability, lowered home values impinging on equity-based lending, and stock market losses in college-fund savings. Public institutions, whose tuition is much lower than private or for-profit institutions, may see an increase in enrollment.

scholarly journals On the ethics of doctors in capitalist countries

1981 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 80-83
Author(s):  
S. Ya. Chikin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Surgical Intervention ◽  
The United States ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Cost

In 1977, the US Congress published statistics on the operation of surgical clinics in many cities in the country. These materials cannot be read without a shudder. They once again proved that American doctors are no different from businessmen in their passion for profit. The report's conclusion was very sad. He testified that up to three million unjustified surgeries are performed annually in the United States. Naturally, they are not undertaken for the sake of the patient's health, but in order to present a more weighty bill to the patient, because the cost of the simplest surgical intervention is now estimated at at least $ 1000.

Commentary on “Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Physician Workforce Issues An Analysis for Future Specialty Planning” by Kim, Cooper, and Kennedy

2012 ◽  
Vol 146 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon P. Pryor ◽  
Linda Brodsky ◽  
Sujana S. Chandrasekhar ◽  
Lauren Zaretsky ◽  
Duane J. Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Head And Neck ◽  
Neck Surgery ◽  
The United States ◽  
Head And Neck Surgery ◽  
Physician Workforce ◽  
Modeling Methods ◽  
The Us ◽  
Workforce Issues ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time

An impending physician shortage has been projected. The article by Kim, Cooper, and Kennedy, titled “Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Physician Workforce Issues: An Analysis for Future Specialty Planning,” is an attempt to evaluate and address this potential shortage as it applies to otolaryngology. The authors of this comment have concerns about the article’s assumptions, design, and recommendations. Kim et al attempt to extrapolate data from other specialties and other countries to the US otolaryngology workforce, use that data in modeling methods without demonstrated validity, and based on their analysis, they recommend drastic changes to otolaryngologic training and practice in the United States. Particularly troublesome are (1) the emphasis placed on gender and part-time work and (2) the measurement of productivity defined as hours worked per week. Before redefining our specialty, more thorough and systematic data acquisition and review are necessary to meet the needs of our patients now and in the future.

The Current State of Emergency Medical Training in US Schools of Podiatric Medicine

2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-50
Author(s):  
David A. Wald ◽  
Alvin Wang ◽  
John Suh ◽  
Jane Pontious ◽  
Christine Miller
Keyword(s):  
Medical Training ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Current State ◽  
Emergency Medical ◽  
The Us ◽  
Medical Emergencies ◽  
Didactic Lecture ◽  
Descriptive Survey

BackgroundThere is no information available in the medical literature regarding emergency medical training in the podiatric medicine predoctoral curriculum. This study was undertaken to describe the current state of emergency medical training in US schools of podiatric medicine.MethodsA Web-based descriptive survey was developed to assess course logistics, the curricular topics covered, and the teaching methods used. All of the US schools of podiatric medicine were surveyed.ResultsCompleted surveys were returned from all nine schools. All of the institutions incorporate training on the management of medical emergencies into their predoctoral curricula. Four schools (44.4%) reported initiating this training before 2000. All of the schools incorporate a didactic (lecture) component, and eight (88.9%) incorporate a clinical (hands-on) component into their training.ConclusionsAll of the schools of podiatric medicine in the United States incorporate emergency medical training into their predoctoral curriculum. However, despite some similarities across institutions, there seems to be variation regarding curricular topics, didactic teaching, and methods of teaching the material.

scholarly journals The Role of Primary Care Physicians (DLP) in Community Care

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Dhanasari Vidiawati Trisna Sanyoto ◽  
Nur Afrainin Syah
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Family Medicine ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
The United States ◽  
Care Physician ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Family Doctors ◽  
Postgraduate Medical Training ◽  
Care Services

Dokter Layanan Primer (DLP) or Primary Care Physician (PCP) is a newly introduced term by the Indonesian government in 2013 since the enforcement of Medical Education Law 20/2013. DLP is a physician who solidifies his/ her education and career in primary care. They have postgraduate medical training in primary care and are experts in this field. In most countries, to be a generalist physician practising at primary care facilities such as health centres and primary care clinics, medical school graduates have to take postgraduate medical training to be proficient in terms of knowledge and skills in primary care services. Family medicine is the main body of knowledge of the primary care postgraduate training program in those countries even though their graduates are called differently among countries. These physicians are called family doctors or family physicians in the United States of America (USA), general practitioners (GPs) in Commonwealth countries, huisarts in the Netherlands. In Indonesia, where social, economic, and cultural diversity is very high in various regions, in addition to Family Medicine, Community Medicine and Public Health....

scholarly journals Students with global experiences during medical school are more likely to work in settings that focus on the underserved: an observational study from a public U.S. institution

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shay E. Slifko ◽  
Nadja A. Vielot ◽  
Sylvia Becker-Dreps ◽  
Donald E. Pathman ◽  
Justin G. Myers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Underserved Populations ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Experiences ◽  
Perceived Benefits ◽  
Application Service ◽  
Global Health Electives ◽  
The U.S

Abstract Background Global health interest has grown among medical students over the past 20 years, and most medical schools offer global health opportunities. Studies suggest that completing global health electives during medical school may increase the likelihood of working with underserved populations in a clinical or research capacity. This study aimed to assess the association of global electives in medical school on subsequently working in global health and with underserved populations in the United States (U.S.), additionally considering students’ interests and experiences prior to medical school. We also examined whether respondents perceived benefits gained from global electives. Methods We surveyed medical school graduates (classes of 2011-2015) from a large public medical school in the U.S. to describe current practice settings and previous global health experience. We evaluated work, volunteer, and educational experiences preceding medical school, socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity using American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) data. We assessed the association between students’ backgrounds, completing global health electives in medical school and current work in global health or with underserved populations in the U.S. Results In the 5 to 8 years post-graduation, 78% of 161 respondents reported work, research, or teaching with a focus on global or underserved U.S. populations. Completing a global health elective during medical school (p = 0.0002) or during residency (p = 0.06) were positively associated with currently working with underserved populations in the U.S. and pre-medical school experiences were marginally associated (p = 0.1). Adjusting for pre-medical school experiences, completing a global health elective during medical school was associated with a 22% greater prevalence of working with an underserved population. Perceived benefits from global electives included improved cultural awareness, language skills, public health and research skills, and ability to practice in technology-limited settings. Conclusion Medical school graduates who participated in global electives as students were more likely than their peers to pursue careers with underserved populations, independent of experiences prior to medical school. We hypothesize that by offering global health experiences, medical schools can enhance the interests and skills of graduates that will make them more likely and better prepared to work with underserved populations in the U.S. and abroad.

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