A persistent, six-year run in the ...

A persistent, six-year run in the choice of specialty training by means of U.S. medical students threatens the adequacy of the physician workforce of the United States. This pattern should be revers and requires the attention of policy makers and medical educators.

The Institute of Medicine conclud in 1996 that in the United States, family physicians, general internists, and general pediatricians play an unequivocally vital part as primary care physicians. These family physicians, general internists, and general pediatricians shortly provide a majority of the office-based visits folks make to physicians in the United States. Medical scholars desiring residency training explicitly directed towards primary care may pick among family medicine, primary care internal medicine, primary care pediatrics, and combined internal medicine and pediatrics.

In the 2003 graduating classes of U medical drills of 14,332 matched graduates, barely 47 seniors opted for residency training in primary care pediatrics, 192 matched into primary care internal medicine, and 258 matched into combined internal medicine and pediatric residencies. The number of U graduates entering family medicine dropp to 1234 barely individual half of 1997 numbers. greatest in quantity graduating medical doctors opted for more specialized fields or for programs in internal medicine or pediatrics that provide the opportunity to subspecialize.

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Given the proven vital part of primary care physicians in improving population health, these trendings plead for immediate attention by means of medical educators and policy makers at federal and state levels

Note: The information and opinions contained in research from the Graham Center do not necessarily cast reproach the views or the policy of the AAFP.

Adapted from Graham Center One-Pager #23 Biola H blooming LA, Phillips RL, Guirguis-Blake J Fryer GE The U primary care physician workforce: persistently declining interest in primary care medical specialties. October 2003 Available at: www.graham-center. org/x468.xml. From the Robert Graham Center: Policy Studies in Family Practice and Primary Care, 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 950 Washington, DC 20036 (telephone: 202-986-5708; fax: 202-986-7034; e-mail: policy@aafp.org).

COPYRIGHT 2003 American Academy of Family Physicians

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