North American Doctor Shortage Research Paper

While the demand of healthcare need increasers the United States facing a physician shortage. In recent years the number of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) has significantly increased and they are taking the part in providing healthcare cervices to the majority of patients. I believe nurse practitioners and physician assistants can practice independently from doctors and be free of oversight. Expanding the scope of NPs and PAs is essential to overcome the healthcare crisis we are facing; it will increase patient satisfaction and stabilizing the healthcare economy.

The decline in hospital capacity was accompanied by a rise in staffing. Full-time equivalent personnel rose (Malagi & Kamath, 2016). Most of the additional personnel in hospitals are not focused on patient care but management or administration purposes. The American Hospital Association data shows that outpatient department visits have risen per 1,000 persons indicating that capacity for ambulatory services has risen overtime. Emergency departments have reduced with a larger percentage of closures being in rural areas. Compared to hospitals, physicians have continued to increase. Specialists have increased except for radiologists and general surgeons. There is, however, an uneven distribution of physicians between rural and urban areas. There is an estimated shortage of 3,000 physicians in nonmetropolitan areas. In addition to an increase in physicians, there are new forms of acute-care facilities. There are relatively new facilities that have been accredited. Ambulatory surgery centers have, for instance, risen (Best et al.,

We have an aging physician population that are reaching the age of retirement. It takes three to seven years to fully train a new

Primary care is the backbone of many industrialized nations, but is the US one of them? Unfortunately, the answer is no. The US lags behind such developed nations in its accessibility of primary care by a huge difference. The United States healthcare system fails to ensure the timely preventative and primary care for its residents. The current estimates indicate that there is merely one physician for every 2,500 patients. Not only Medicare beneficiaries, but also privately insured adults struggle in accessing the right primary care physician at the right time. Moreover, maldistribution of physicians only exacerbates the problem, especially for those residing in health professional shortage areas (HPSA).15 Approximately, sixty-five million Americans live in designated primary care shortage areas.13 Such underserved population faces higher disease and death rates and health disparities that then result in higher rates of hospitalizations and emergency department visits—in other words, expensive medical bills.21 More governmental control on the geographic location of primary care physicians can be a first-step to fixing the shortage problem.

Regardless of the many factors influencing the supply of physicians such as movement away from managed care, increase in the number of female physicians, lifestyle preferences, population growth, and increase in average lifespan, there still continues to be a physician shortage here in the United States. In order to fill these available positions in doctors’ offices, hospitals, and clinics due to the physician shortage, we are using IMGs, or international medical graduates.

In Ontario, on average patients wait for 158 to a high of 311 days for surgeries (Health Council of Canada, 2007). To further exacerbate the situation, since 2001 the wait-times for surgery has increased by approximately 50%. Furthermore, on average cancer patients who are suffering with chronic pain wait one to two years for an appointment to see an anesthesiologist for specialized pain treatments (BCAA, 2006). Explain the connection between wait times for surgery and the shortage of anesthesiologists more clearly. The government is not taking enough action to eliminate the issue of long wait times for surgeries; the Supreme Court of Canada says: “access to a waiting list is not access to health care” (CBC, 2006).

The United States health care system is currently facing a projected shortage of up to 94,700 physicians by 2025, a number which has been exacerbated by policies within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Current policies established or proposed to address this issue have been either insufficient in scope or lacked necessary funding for successful implementation. In order to assure quality and adequate access to health care for all individuals, new policies are desperately needed to both increase the physician population in the future and provide solutions until the need can be met. Recommendations to address this issue include increasing the team-based care structure within primary care, reducing the current limitations on non-physician practitioners, and increasing the number of residency positions offered through graduate medical education.

With an expanding and aging population, the demand for physicians has never been higher. Rural regions across the country are already experiencing physician shortages, specifically in primary care. According to the Association of America Medical Colleges, the United States will have a shortage of more than 130,600 physicians by 2025, equally split between general practitioners and other medical specialties. Although its true that the number of medical students being trained in the United States is increasing due to the opening of new medical schools and expansion of class size, the number of practicing physicians will not increase unless the number of residency slots is increased. The number of residency training slots is the bottleneck to increasing the number of practicing physicians. New doctors need to complete a residency-training program in order to practice medicine, and these training slots are becoming progressively more competitive. The programs are limited in size, and the increasing number of medical school graduates leaves medical doctors without a enough training slots. The looming doctor shortage will only get worse if medical school graduates continue to be left out of residency training programs, and are forced to wait till the following year to re-apply.

The shortage of physician primary care provider, has created public awareness bringing about the demand of the advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). The APRN has the necessary training to assess, diagnose and treat patients. As the role of APRN begin to expand the need to prescribe medications becomes very important. According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), APRN practice in the United States is divided into three groups: full practice, reduced practice, or restricted practice.

As the primary care physician shortage continues to rise along with the healthcare costs many states are looking for a solution to the crisis. Some states have already passed laws that have removed the limitations of a nurse practitioner’s ability to practice. Pennsylvania is currently not one of these states but that may soon change if the Senate Bill 1063 is passed (Larson, 2014).

Nowadays, America’s citizens take simple trips to the doctor for granted. Everyday, millions are treated by doctors for broken bones, sickness, cancer, etc. However, we may not have enough doctors to keep up with the demand. Many people whom have gone through medical school and/or medical classes in college would rather become nurses and doctor’s assistants than become professional physicians or specialists. This poses a major problem for the United States since there is an expected rise in demand for doctors in coming years. This research paper will explain the history, causes, long term, short term, and tried/potential solution to the nation’s shortage of doctors.

comparable physicians in the United States (Herrick, 2007). Median nurses’ salaries in the United States are typically 50 percent greater than those in many overseas locations. Furthermore, unskilled and semiskilled labor, such as technicians and housekeeping staff may be procured at massive discounts when compared to U.S. wages. The end result is these reduced labor rates make it extremely cost effective to both build and operate medical facilities in overseas locations.

As one embarks on the path to becoming a physician, we face many challenges along the way. For some of us, we may become exposed to the realities of medicine through shadowing and volunteering and then realizing we lack interest in dealing with patients or spending hours upon hours in a hospital. Some may come to discover that they do not possess the time and patience to go through

This article posted on the CNN website was written by Michael Nedelman on March 14, 2017. This article discusses the current and anticipated shortage of doctors in the health care industry. It specifically talks about causers of the shortage, which include recent health care and immigration policies. The 1997 Balanced Budget Act limits the fundings of trainings doctors receive after medical school. The twist to this issue is that even though medical school enrollment has jumped by 27% over the last several years, it did not result in 27% more being trained. This is both because the number of international students entering the program went down, and the number of the US graduates who were not accepted went up.

As a child goes through school, they’re often asked the same question; “What do you want to be when you grow up?” For the select and daring few, the answer was always “A doctor.” The education required to become a doctor or physician is lengthy, time consuming, and mentally straining, but satisfying in the end, thanks to the immense benefits. Beginning this outstanding career starts like most by graduating high school and deciding on a college or university. Once a student attends their future alma mater, they need to begin their general education classes. General education classes are defined as classes that develop student’s personalities and give a basic building block for any and every degree (Understanding the Process). Finally, after approximately eight semesters, or four years, a student can graduate with a pre-med