Every once in a while I become acutely reminded of how quickly family medicine is dying. Today was one of those days. This morning I saw a graph showing only 1083 U.S. Medical Students matched in Family Medicine this year, which is the lowest I have ever seen. This afternoon I heard from two medical students who have rotated through my office and were excited about the prospect of going in to primary care. One decided on OB/GYN and the other decided to do a combined IM/Peds residency. A first year medical student who is currently rotating with me says there are only 3 people in her entire med school class who are interested in becoming FPs.
Framily Practice is dying at an alarming rate. We are dying because we have not been able to market what we do--to medical students or policy makers. We are dying because greater than 55% of FPs are not happy practicing medicine. We are dying because of the pay inequity between primary care and specialties.
The result is scary and sad and embarassing to those of us who toil on the front lines. Although our jobs are secure, we wonder what we have to do to recruit new talent into our ranks. Unfortunately, as the nation looks for ways to cut rising costs of health care and begins to look for good primary care, it appears there will be no one left. Change needs to happen and happen fast. It may already be too late.
John Brady, MD
One of the reasons I find this trend so unsettling is the wealth of studies that demonstrate that people who get care from family physicians are less likely to end up on the emergency room, less likely to end up in the hospital, and are more satisfied with their care.
Posted by: Gordon Moore | March 27, 2009 at 08:55 AM