Bolstering the pipeline for primary care: a proposal from stakeholders in medical education.

Bolstering the pipeline for primary care: a proposal from stakeholders in medical education. Med Educ Online. 2016;21:32146 Authors: Shi H, Lee KC Abstract The Association of American Medical Colleges reports an impending shortage of over 90,000 primary care physicians by the year 2025. An aging and increasingly insured population demands a larger provider workforce. Unfortunately, the supply of US-trained medical students entering primary care residencies is also dwindling, and without a redesign in this country's undergraduate and graduate medical education structure, there will be significant problems in the coming decades. As an institution producing fewer and fewer trainees in primary care for one of the poorest states in the United States, we propose this curriculum to tackle the issue of the national primary care physician shortage. The aim is to promote more recruitment of medical students into family medicine through an integrated 3-year medical school education and a direct entry into a local or state primary care residency without compromising clinical experience. Using the national primary care deficit figures, we calculated that each state medical school should reserve 20-30 primary care (family medicine) residency spots, allowing students to bypass the traditional match after successfully completing a series of rigorous externships, pre-internships, core clerkships, and board exams. Robust support, advising, and persona...
Source: Medical Education Online - Category: Universities & Medical Training Tags: Med Educ Online Source Type: research