Medical school deans and state medical society executives see physician...( A perception exists among medical schoo...),Health

According to background information in the article, "analyses of trends in health care indicate that, at current rates of production, there will be too few physicians to meet future needs. This conclusion is supported by warnings of physician shortages by some medical specialty organizations and state medical societies as well as by signals from the marketplace, which indicate that young physicians are in greater demand and that patients are having greater difficulty in accessing physicians."

Richard A. Cooper, M.D., from the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and colleagues conducted telephone and Internet surveys with medical school deans and state medical society officials to determine their perceptions about the status of physician supply in their regions and whether, if more physicians were needed, that medical schools could expand. A total of 73 (58 percent) of 126 medical school deans and 44 (86 percent) of medical society executives responded to the survey.

"Of the 70 responding deans from mainland schools, 62 (89 percent) cited shortages of physicians in at least one specialty," the authors report. "Six deans (9 percent) also reported surpluses and 8 others (11 percent) were either uncertain or believed that there were no shortages or surpluses." The authors note that most frequently cited shortages were in anesthesiology (50 percent) and radiology (44 percent). Other medical subspecialties noted for apparent shortages were cardiology, gastroenterology, and geriatrics. Among surgical specialties, shortages were noted in both general surgery (17 percent) and the surgical subspecialties (21 percent). "Shortages within the adult
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Contact: Eileen La Susa
414-456-4700
JAMA and Archives Journals
9-Dec-2003