Over the recent years, those in medical school are choosing to become specialists over generalists (or primary care physicians). In general, specialists tend to make more money than generalists and many students are coming out of medical school with more debt hence why they are choosing to become specialists. They can craft their expertise into one specific area as opposed to being a general practitioner. But, this could have negative implications in the future as the country already faces a shortage of primary care physicians with the Affordable Care Act soon to be implemented fully and millions are going to be guaranteed health care.
1. Discuss differences between specialists and generalists
2. Discuss why students are deciding to become specialists over generalists (http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=227186)
3. Interview Question: Do you see any issues right now with the fact that there are less primary care physicians than specialists?
Subheading: Affordable Care Act will force us to need more generalists
- There is already a mass shortage of generalists right now
- The U.S. will face a shortage of more than 90,000 primary care physicians by 2020 and 130,000 by 2025, according to nonprofit firm the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
- What will happen in years to come
- Interview question: With the impending Affordable Care Act, what do you see happening with the supply of doctors performing primary care services?
Subheading: Studies may show the situation is not as severe as once thought
- Nurse practitioners and PA's are being more empowered with more responsibility so the loss doesn't appear as severe
- There are proposed solutions to the shortage crisis
- Researchers at the nonprofit research organization Rand Corp. say an expansion of patient-centered medical homes and “nurse-managed” health centers “could help eliminate 50 percent or more of the primary care physician shortage” in the U.S. by 2025
Subheading: A shortage will still exist, so what is being done to fix it?
- Medical schools offering more loans and grants to students
- Medical schools taking in larger number of students
- Interview Question: In your work, what should be done to encourage more students to become generalists
Conclusion: Right now it appears as though we are in a great shortage of physicians that the country will need to address soon. Some believe we are in trouble while others believe we can curb the issue by giving more responsibility to physician assistants and nurses. As of now, there are programs medical schools are utilizing to encourage those to become primary care physicians. Time will tell if the nation is really in a state of emergency regarding this shortage.
This was a great outline. The structure and flow of the post was very good and helped me to stay engaged and helped me learn more about the topic. I especially like how you split the interview questions into their respective sub headings. This creates good context for the clips and makes the reader inclined to watch all of them. The order of the sub headings is also very well done. Like illustrated in the book, you first presented us with the breaking news, then continued with the background and the context. This is a great was to make the reader interested and keep that attention throughout the post.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I suggest is that you make sure to cover other reasons why students would choose to be specialists over generalists. The only reason you covered was because they want to make money since they are in debt. This is a very generalized statement that should be backed up with research and evidence. It is also important to note that there are most likely many different reasons as to why they choose one over the other. For instance, it could offer them a more stable job and a better reputation. Here is an article I found that relates well to this topic: http://careers.theguardian.com/careers-blog/specialist-generalist-what-do-employers-want
Finally, I was a little confused by the second subheading. It seems to break up the flow of the post. If research says it is not a big issue, than why argue that it is a relevant issue that needs to be resolved? Instead, try to move it to be the last subheading. Another suggestion is to make it more relevant to your topic. You can do this by saying that there is uncertainty on whether the issue is as severe as it seems, but that it still deserves attention because of the reasons you mentioned and researched previously.
I think Robert did a fantastic job on picking his topic. I’m very intrigued about his research because it’s something I wouldn’t have thought about or neither would a lot of students around our age would think about.
ReplyDeleteRobert talks about how students nowadays come out of medical school as a specialist and not as a general practitioner. He goes on to suggest that this may threaten our health care in the future because we have a shortage of general practitioners. Especially that the Affordable Care Act will soon be in effect, there will be millions of people who will need doctors or primary care physicians and not necessarily specialists.
Robert’s research includes some interesting facts, studies, links, and some quotes from researchers from an organization called Rand Corp. It’s good that this topic covers how the present population is dealing with the shortage now, it also includes how will it be like in the following years, and ways that it could be fixed or justified.
I would suggest maybe getting some perspectives from physicians themselves, specialists, or medical students on how the Affordable care act would affect their practices in the future. You kind of already mentioned that on your interview question but maybe trying to get both advantages and disadvantages (link below). Also, I’d make sure to add a little bit of background about the Affordable Care Act before proceeding to the argument.
So far, the research is very well organized and he seems to be very interested in the subject and I think it will be a great project.
http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/medical-school-admissions-doctor/2012/12/03/weigh-obamacares-pros-cons-for-medical-students
Were you suppose to have an audio summary? Couldn't fine one on yours.