With the fifth-highest ratio of primary care doctors to patients in the country--114 per 100,000 people--Marylanders are pretty lucky. That's when you compare Maryland to the national average of 91 primary care doctors per 100,000 people.
Still, a program organized by the University of Maryland School of Medicine that allows medical students to shadow primary care doctors could encourage even more future doctors to pursue careers in primary care, reports The Baltimore Sun.
Matching students with primary care doctors in inner-city Baltimore and other underserved parts of the state, the two-week program taught Siobhan Kibbey, a second-year medical student, how to document patient histories and present cases to a doctor, reports the news outlet.
Richard Colgan, M.D., a professor of family and community medicine and vice chairman for medical school student education and clinical operations at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, launched the program with a $880,000 federal grant, according to the article.
About 200 of the medical school's 600 students are pursuing its primary care track, and more than 75 percent of students graduating in 2016 have set their sights on careers as primary care doctors, Colgan told the Sun.
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