medical students
Report: Severe family MD shortage by 2020
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, patients in Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Idaho will face a serious family physician shortage by the year 2020. The problem is predicted to be the worst in these states because they have a higher proportion of elderly residents, but almost every state will be effected by the shortage. Patients in rural and inner city settings will likely …
... Read more...Study: Residents work too many hours
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association underscores the danger of overworking medical students. The study found that first year residents routinely work more than the maximum duty-hours recommended by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The council requires that physicians-in-training work no more than 80 hours a week averaged over the course of four weeks, have one day off a week and not work more than 24 hours straight. …
... Read more...The problem with primary care
Earlier this week, FierceHealthcare examined the shortage of primary care doctors in Massachusetts and across the nation. Now another article, like our previous item published by the New England Journal of Medicine, examines this growing problem as well as the factors that have contributed to primary care doctors' dissatisfaction with their jobs. NEJM observes that "primary …
... Read more...Study contradicts idea of physician shortage
New research published in Health Affairs challenges the idea that the U.S. is suffering from a physician shortage. Instead, the authors conclude, the problem has to do with efficiency. Authors David Goodman and Wenner argue that physicians can and should be used more effectively, contradicting calls by groups like the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges who have called for an increase in the number of medical students. The study looked at …
... Read more...SPOTLIGHT: Caribbean schools not laughing about this one
They may have been featured in the short-lived sitcom Going to Extremes, but they're not amused now. Caribbean medical schools are fighting against legislation sponsored by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) that would cut off their student loans. St. George's Medical School, the school on the tiny island of Grenada made famous during the US invasion in 1983, is among the med schools that could be impacted. About 3,500 American medical students receive degrees from the Caribbean schools every year. Article
Med schools work on Empathy 101
A growing number of medical schools are instituting programs designed to teach medical students how to be better communicators. Skeptics say the training doesn't work and is a waste of time that could far better spent doing more productive things. New standards developed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical go into effect next year which will gauge students on professionalism, compassionate care and ethical behavior. The trick, many administrators admit, will be a finding a …
... Read more...Study: 6,000 physicians displaced by Katrina
A new study by a professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill looks at the impact of Hurricane Katrina on physicians in the southeast. About 6,000 doctors in 10 counties and parishes in Mississippi and Louisiana have been displaced as a consequence of Hurricane Katrina. That, as far as anybody can guess, makes the storm responsible for the largest mass displacement of physicians ever in the US. Study author Dr. Thomas Ricketts of the UNC School of Public Health said he thinks …
... Read more...Med students complain of poor training
A survey of American medical students released this week finds most think they aren't being taught many of the things they need to know to keep up with a rapidly changing field and get ahead in their profession. Thirty-five percent of medical students say they they are not offered courses in medical ethics, 47 percent say their medical schools offer no training in the business of medicine and a further 35 percent say they are not being given a chance to study the latest technological …
... Read more...Survey finds residents still working long hours
The AMA released details of its annual member survey of medical students and residents. The organization has argued for years that the long hours worked by doctors-in-training can put patients at risk. Residents who took part in the survey said they work 68 hours per week on average. Over eighty percent reported having been so tired "they have been in a car accident or near accident." Many of those surveyed said they feel uncomfortable reporting rules violations, for fear of causing their hospitals accreditation problems.
- see the study from the AMA
