You can’t read a newspaper or a blog these days without reading more depressing news about the economic crisis, but there are some situations where – instead of a slump – business is booming; one of those is the medical school business, where a predicted doctor shortage is seeing many schools expanding to accommodate increased recruitment and enrollment.
Just 25 years ago, experts warned that a surplus of doctors was contributing to rising health care costs due an increase in unnecessary procedures. In response, many medical schools capped enrollment. Now, it seems, the problem is a shortage rather than a surplus.
Physician Shortage Happened Over Years
Warnings of a crisis-level doctor shortage have been abounding for several years, and the apparent crisis is apparently closer than ever. In response, medical schools are expanding with new classrooms, laboratories, and staff. Additionally, new medical schools are under development all over the country, from Michigan to Texas.
Americans over the age of 65 will expand rapidly beyond 2011, eventually burdening the health care system and leading to a high demand for health care workers.
According to Dr. J. James Rohack, a Texas cardiologist, the reason behind the seemingly contradictory boom of the medical school business is actually fairly logical: The population is expanding, and people are living longer. That means the country’s need for trained and educated medical staff will increase too.
Doctor shortages are already rampant in rural and poor areas, partly because many new graduates choose higher-paying specialties rather than becoming primary care physicians. Medical experts admit that increasing enrolment isn’t necessarily the answer, but that it will help alleviate the problems caused by the shortage.
Nurse Shortages Threaten Health Care Quality Now
The doctor shortage is compounded by a problem that at present is even more of an issue for the healthcare system: a severe nurse shortage that is currently a much greater threat to the quality of healthcare.
The U.S. faces an impending shortage of health care workers - most notably nurses.
It has been estimated that more than 200,000 nursing positions are currently unfilled across the country, and the shortage is expected to get even worse as the baby boom generation hits retirement. The shortage leads to decreased quality of patient care, with an increased risk of delays in healthcare, medical errors, and safety hazards.
Curiously enough, the problem isn’t that there’s a lack of people interested in entering the profession: The problem is that nursing schools simply don’t have the resources and faculty needed to train the number of nurses that the country needs. Thousands of applicants are turned down every year while facilities across the country struggle to fill vacant nursing positions.
- healthcare worker shortage in the U S
- careworker shortfall
- Shortage of Nurses and Doctors
- nursing shortage predictions
- cardiologist health insurance
- care worker shortfall
- WHAT IS THE PRESENT SHORTAGES IN HEALTH CARE
- nurses health care reform
- articles on shortage of physicians and nurses with healthcare reform
- shortage of nurses and health care
