Doctors have always been regarded as one of the most prestigious professions in the United States. It is up there with lawyers and political leaders. Doctors they are usually considered pillars of their communities. From the beginning of our lives to the end of them we spend quite a lot of time with our doctor’s. It would make sense that we would want to know that there is always going to be enough of them to cover all Americans. With the addition of millions of previously uninsured Americans, thanks to the new healthcare reform, the looming threat of a doctor’s shortage is real, and possibly one that we might not have a real answer to.
Currently in the United States there are about 350,000 primary-care doctors, and the college association says that we will need at least 45,000 more by 2020. However in recent years the number of medical students going into family medicine has actually decreased. (Staline, Wang) Mark Koba of CNBC states that the U.S. is estimated to be short about 16,000 primary care doctors. That leaves about 55 million people without a doctor or struggling to find one. He goes on to discuss that one reason for the shortage is the aging of doctors and their patients. He states that nearly half of all doctors are nearing retirement age, are also working fewer hours and seeing fewer patients. According to Jen Christensen from CNN who spoke with Dr. Ryan A. Stanton from Georgetown Community Hospital, Dr. Stanton is worried, that the “Obamacare” influx of patients will crash the system. While Dr. Stanton sees traumas in the ER, quite a few of the patients he sees are not emergent. "People turn to the ER because they have no other place to go after hours or they don't have access to a level of appropriate primary car...
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The number of doctors that present in the United States of America directly affects the communities that these doctors serve and plays a large role in how the country and its citizens approach health care. The United States experienced a physician surplus in the 1980s, and was affected in several ways after this. However, many experts today have said that there is currently a shortage of physicians in the United States, or, at the very least, that there will be a shortage in the near future. The nation-wide statuses of a physician surplus or shortage have many implications, some of which are quite detrimental to society. However, there are certain remedies that can be implemented in order to attempt to rectify the problems, or alleviate some of their symptoms.
It is no secret that the current healthcare reform is a contentious matter that promises to transform the way Americans view an already complex healthcare system. The newly insured population is expected to increase by an estimated 32 million while facing an expected shortage of up to 44,000 primary care physicians within the next 12 years (Doherty, 2010). Amidst these already overwhelming challenges, healthcare systems are becoming increasingly scrutinized to identify ways to improve cost containment and patient access (Curits & Netten, 2007). “Growing awareness of the importance of health promotion and disease prevention, the increased complexity of community-based care, and the need to use scarce human healthcare resources, especially family physicians, far more efficiently and effectively, have resulted in increased emphasis on primary healthcare renewal.” (Bailey, Jones & Way, 2006, p. 381).
In the United States, depending upon the state in which they work, nurse practitioners may or may not be required to practice under the supervision of a physician, frequently referred to as a “collaborative practice agreement”. However, in consideration of the shortage of primary care/internal medicine physicians, many states are eliminating or lessening the restrictive authority which allows and nurse practitioners the ability to function more autonomously (AANP 2015).
Question Quote "I doubt that these experiences are unique to the hospitals or the medical school at which I have thus far trained. I expect that they pervade health care systems throughout the country. I give credit to my medical school for teaching me to be critical of the culture of medicine, apply interdisciplinary perspectives to clinical quandaries, and reflect on my experiences." (Brooks KC. 2015.)
healthcare system needs to be looked at as it can impact the future healthcare delivery. As Dr. Goodson (2010) explicates, there are “promises and perils for primary care”. Dr. Goodson looks at the promises of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (2010) – reestablishing primary care in the U. S. healthcare delivery, funding for education and training of primary care physicians, ten percent increase in payment for five years with funding the payments for Medicaid. Dr. Goodson also gives an account of the perils of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (2010) – decreasing number of primary care physician education and training which hinders the idea of full access to healthcare and the idea of fee capitation might restrict providing care for complicated and expensive healthcare
Advanced practice roles will only become increasingly utilized and in great need in the coming years as legislators have brought vast change to U.S. healthcare. The number of newly insured individuals combined with the expanding elderly population is already bringing the number of patients seen in emergency departments and outpatient facilities higher than ever before. As more individuals and families gain access to healthcare, this explosion in patient numbers in the coming years will have a great impact on the clinicians themselves. There will be increasing focus on managing care and cost-efficiency as these previously uninsured patients have gone without medical care for such a long time and will need vast amounts of high-acuity and specialized care.
The growing shortage of geriatricians, doctors trained to treat older people, is a crisis in the making. However, the way the editorial “An Aging Population Without the Doctors to Match,” makes the case, is deeply
There can be doctor shortage if the national health care system become mandatory. There was a research conducted by The Association of American Medical College and they find out that there will be shortage of around 63,000 doctors by 2015 due to making Obama care mandatory (Gordon, E). In the developed countries like United Kingdom where they have national health care system there is shortage of doctors and nurses in 2013 there was only 2.71 doctor practicing for every 100 patients (Gordon, E). Having few doctors can result in bad quality of health
The purpose of this research paper is to outline the impact and solutions that the shortage of geriatricians within geriatric medicine has had on health care. From the findings, the research has shown that with the shortage, patients do not receive the best possible care that they need and also solutions in which are being implemented by Congress and schools to increase the number of students that enter into geriatric medicine. The findings also show the reason why geriatric medicine is still struggling to gain the same momentum as other lucrative specialties such as cardiology, neurology, and internal medicine. By understanding these implications, the nation can work to find a way to combat this issue head on and make sure that older
“In 2007, U.S. health care spending was about $7,421 per resident and accounted for 16.2% of the nations GDP” (Kaiser). Whereas, Japan’s national expenditure on health is roughly 8% of the nations GDP (Kaiser). However, with such low cost, delivery of medical care would be affected in a negative way. Many physicians in Japan have witnessed hospitals overcrowding due to the fact that every patient is treated too equally and the hospital beds are occupied by less urgent cases and there are no penalties for those who over use the system (Harden). Also, lack of required physicians and nurses on duty affects the quality of care because there are only 1.6 physicians per 1,000 people and 7.8 nurses per 1,000 people whereas the average for physicians are 3.1 and nurses are 8.2 per 1,000 people (Kaiser). Therefore, physicians and nurses become overwhelmed with long hours and overcrowding causing the quality and delivery of medical care to
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“Website.” 2002 Prentice Hall | a division of Pearson Education, plc. Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 29 Nov. 2013.Web. 29 Nov. 2013. http://www.prenhall.com/success/MajorExp/MEDmajors.html