AMCAS thinks i'm from a medically underserved county?!

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(Milwaukee county, that is). i thought that was a little weird, but there ARE many gaps in care due to white flight.

anyone else suprised that they came from a medically underserved county? gee, when they ask if i'm willing to work in an underserved area, i guess i could go buy the house next door to my parents and say yes. (i actually do plan on serving the underserved, just didn't realize the definition was so...lax?)

to find out, click "print application" on AMCAS, and next to your parents' county of residence, see if you have a (U). (R) means rural.

Every location I entered AMCAS deemed underserved.

Yeah, mine was underserved... but I already knew that beforehand... there are soooo many underserved areas.

Does anyone know if that helps with admission at all?? just curious.

Ditto here. Most the counties I lived in were deemed 'underserved'. I didn't find it useful.

i came up as underserved also... for no aparent reason. i wonder how they come up with that classification anyway.

Yeah, it's interesting that they consider Los Angeles County in CA to be underserved. I know there are major medical disparities in the inner cities, but there are also very affluent areas in the county that are definitely not underserved.

I seriously doubt the Hampton Roads area as a whole is medically underserved, but AMCAS said my city was. I think most doctor's offices just happen to be located in Va Beach and Norfolk, 15-30 min from my city, instead of in it. (my city = my county, btw)

My county (Worcester, MA) is medically underserved. I wouldn't call my town medically underserved because we have a nice big medical center downtown and there are lots of yuppies driving mercedes, but there are parts of Worcester that are VERY underserved and some rural areas on the other side of the city that are about 35-45 minutes away from a medical center.

I think that part of the AAMC's definition of underserved includes percentage of people who are uninsured. It's not really a suprise to find uninsured people anywhere to me, considering the expense...

It said St. Louis County was underserved when I filed.

Had absolutely no bearing on my application. In fact, I've been snubbed by my state school and St. Louis University 2 years running.

soooooo is anyone's place NOT underserved? I mean LA? don't they have some of the best hospitals in the country there?

i really don't get the point of that classification?

3 of the 4 counties in Kansas City are not considered underserved. I know there is one or two more counties in Kansas that aren't considered underserved, but the rest of the counties are.

Yeah, where I'm from, there *seems* to be a saturation of medical practices and hospitals but you still have to wait 1-3 weeks to see a halfway decent specialist.

Originally Posted by Em1

I seriously doubt the Hampton Roads area as a whole is medically underserved, but AMCAS said my city was. I think most doctor's offices just happen to be located in Va Beach and Norfolk, 15-30 min from my city, instead of in it. (my city = my county, btw)

I'm in Hampton Roads too, but still claim Pittsburgh, PA as my home. What do you do here? Does the EM1 = Electrician's Mate?

I've seen this formula recently although I can't put my hands on it at the moment. In part, it scores a county's infant mortality rate (number of babies who die before their first birthday per 1,000 live births), the proportion of the population that is over 65, the number of primary care providers per 1,000 population (you can have a big medical center but if everyone is a super-specialist it can be hard to get an appointment for routine preventive care & early detection), and the proportion of the population that is medicare or uninsured (I'm a little fuzzy on this last one).

San Diego was deemed underserved, which blew me away. I'm sure that Southern San Diego is underserved, but the area that I lived in (La Jolla) was certainly not underserved by any stretch of the imagination.

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSOD

San Diego was deemed underserved, which blew me away. I'm sure that Southern San Diego is underserved, but the area that I lived in (La Jolla) was certainly not underserved by any stretch of the imagination.

When the geographic division is by county, you can often end up with a designation that does not appear to apply to smaller sub-units of the county.

Are you sure the "U" doesn't mean Urban?

yea, poor me from Orange County, we are also underserved

Originally Posted by ClosetNerd

Are you sure the "U" doesn't mean Urban?

Yeah, check out the last page of AMCAS U=underserved and R=rural

Originally Posted by mdavey

yea, poor me from Orange County, we are also underserved

yea, im from orange county, fla. surprised me

Originally Posted by asunshine

(Milwaukee county, that is). i thought that was a little weird, but there ARE many gaps in care due to white flight.

anyone else suprised that they came from a medically underserved county? gee, when they ask if i'm willing to work in an underserved area, i guess i could go buy the house next door to my parents and say yes. (i actually do plan on serving the underserved, just didn't realize the definition was so...lax?)

to find out, click "print application" on AMCAS, and next to your parents' county of residence, see if you have a (U). (R) means rural.

That's what that meant. I was reading over my application and didn't know what it meant, but I figured it wasn't a problem since it popped up everywhere on Milwaukee County.

There are some underserved areas there, but I guess you can make that statement for any county that has a city.

AMCAS considered middlesex county (suburban central New Jersey) to be underserved. I didn't expect that at all.

Originally Posted by Sophie

Every location I entered AMCAS deemed underserved.

Do you have to list every place you've ever lived or something?

Originally Posted by asunshine

(Milwaukee county, that is). i thought that was a little weird, but there ARE many gaps in care due to white flight.

anyone else suprised that they came from a medically underserved county? gee, when they ask if i'm willing to work in an underserved area, i guess i could go buy the house next door to my parents and say yes. (i actually do plan on serving the underserved, just didn't realize the definition was so...lax?)

to find out, click "print application" on AMCAS, and next to your parents' county of residence, see if you have a (U). (R) means rural.

According to AMCAS, I was born, raised, and now am doing my post bac in 3 different medically underserved NY counties.....weird though, because there are several hospitals close to where I lived in each of those places

Check the linksfor how thedesignation is determined or to see if you are ina medically underserved area or health professional shortage area.

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/shortage/hpsacrit.htm

http://hpsafind.hrsa.gov/

http://datawarehouse.hrsa.gov/

Originally Posted by rajad10

yea, im from orange county, fla. surprised me

haha, i actually meant orange county, CA; like the tv show (lamest show ever btw)

yeah, all 3 of my places (birth, home, and school) are underserved, including philadelphia!! so...i guess if i'm asked whether i'd be willing to work in an underserved area, my response is gonna be 'hell yeah!'

Originally Posted by ClosetNerd

Are you sure the "U" doesn't mean Urban?

Originally Posted by Carmenita79

Yeah, check out the last page of AMCAS U=underserved and R=rural

woops... thanks for the correction carmentia

wow I'm underserved too

So now the question becomes home many bloody doctors does a place need to be considered served. Im guessing even Manhattan is underserved. Blimey

I think that you guys need to look at it from the standpoint of generalists i.e. there IS a dire need for internists, pediatricians, geriatricians, family practicioners in just about every community.

There are far toom any specialists. Everybody cannot be a surgeon, nor should everyone desire to be one, but that is where we are right now in medicine. At the same time, there are still communities where folx do nto want to practice medicine and forget about them living there in a hope that they will lead the community into some sort of renaissance.

So while the numbers may seem misleading, they are true. There is a crying need for generalists in the inner city i.e the ghettos of America. the same call is going unanswered in the farmlands of America and the reamining Native American reservations/tribal communities in this country.

The question is, is there REALLY anyone out there who gives a damn and is not pursuing a career in medicine for the money?

Originally Posted by jsnuka

I think that you guys need to look at it from the standpoint of generalists i.e. there IS a dire need for internists, pediatricians, geriatricians, family practicioners in just about every community.

There are far toom any specialists. Everybody cannot be a surgeon, nor should everyone desire to be one, but that is where we are right now in medicine. At the same time, there are still communities where folx do nto want to practice medicine and forget about them living there in a hope that they will lead the community into some sort of renaissance.

So while the numbers may seem misleading, they are true. There is a crying need for generalists in the inner city i.e the ghettos of America. the same call is going unanswered in the farmlands of America and the reamining Native American reservations/tribal communities in this country.

The question is, is there REALLY anyone out there who gives a damn and is not pursuing a career in medicine for the money?

Sign me up for working in the ghetto mate. I dont care as long as the city has more than 5 million people sign me up.

There are far toom any specialists. Everybody cannot be a surgeon, nor should everyone desire to be one, but that is where we are right now in medicine.

Then they need to start paying FP docs better. It's just like any other boring job. You have to pay well to get people to do it.

The question is, is there REALLY anyone out there who gives a damn and is not pursuing a career in medicine for the money?

Yes, I'm doing it because I find it challenging and amusing. The nice paycheck that goes along with EM is only a nice plus.

Sign me up for working in the ghetto mate. I dont care as long as the city has more than 5 million people sign me up.

Screw that. You can have it.

Originally Posted by DropkickMurphy

Screw that. You can have it.

Thanks I will enjoy it.

I'm not going through several years of undergrad, a masters program, med school and residency to work in a cesspool. Actually I'm doing all of this as a way to get away from areas like that. Watch your wallet.

Originally Posted by DropkickMurphy

I'm not going through several years of undergrad, a masters program, med school and residency to work in a cesspool. Actually I'm doing all of this as a way to get away from areas like that. Watch your wallet.

I grew up in places like that so I can handle myself. It will be a homecoming mate. No one says you have to work there I just said I wanted to.

Like I said, more power to you. I can handle myself as well. Put it this way, I come from a family where I don't trust most of them further than I can throw them. All but two of my cousins are best defined by Irish term, "pikey" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikey Calling them "white trash" or "trailer trash" is giving them far too much credit.

Perhaps some of you might have seen the serial documentary about my mother's side of the family: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_Park_Boys