How much to build a medical school?

[DocEasyCheesy]

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Why can't the government build like 10 more medical schools. We can spend millions of dollars on bunker buster missiles but can't build another medical school. I think it's BS being that doctors are in serious demand. WTF is up with that!

 

[armybound]

why don't the ones in existence just take in more students?

I don't think there's such a critical shortage of doctors that we need to rush to get more.

 

[artaxerxes]

I actually didn't know that Docs are in high demand....I thought there was a glut of docs in the US, especially with us brain draining everyone,

Now nurses, those we desperately need.....they should make a rule that if you can't get into med school on the third try, you are offered accelerated entry into nursing school

oh and it takes a lot of money to build a med school...I'd say 100-200million minimum, the government can't be just throwing around that kind of money. Compare this stuff to the military isn't fair, cause every military costs a lot of money, thats just the way things roll. In fact, from a spendin point of view, isn't it more satisfying to spend billions to have a fighting army than one that's just sitting around? And damn it, we NEED BETTER BUNKER BUSTING MISSLES and a anti-tank rocket for every infantry man.

 

[Law2Doc]

I actually didn't know that Docs are in high demand....I thought there was a glut of docs in the US, especially with us brain draining everyone,

You apparently don't read the papers. This was cover page news in USA Today and most other McPapers about a year ago. There is a big shortage looming in light of the aging baby boomers sucking our health system dry. All med schools have begun increasing their classes by about 10-15% over the next decade, to the extent they have the ability. However they don't want to expand too fast because (1) nobody has increased the residency slots as of yet (and might not, in an effort to beat down the caribbean schools), and (2) the generation behind the baby boomers is actually quite small by comparison, and so nobody wants to end up with too much of a glut in another 20 years.
As far as building more med schools, see the above sentence.

 

[jochi1543]

oh and it takes a lot of money to build a med school...I'd say 100-200million minimum,

Hell, probably more! We have a really old science building at my school that has dormitory rooms in it (imagine that....one day the head of the chem department managed to get poisonous gas out in the lab and it all went to the dorms through the ventilation system 😱). They brought in some consultants to tell them how much it'd cost to bring the building up to modern standards, and the figures were on the order of 500 million - and it's not even a very big building.

 

[DocEasyCheesy]

Go to a hospital and ask around, they'll let you know if more doctors are needed. I agree they should allow more students per year and even have multiple classes per year like the caribbean schols do. The fact is there is a insane shortage of med school seats available.

 

[smq123]

Go to a hospital and ask around, they'll let you know if more doctors are needed. I agree they should allow more students per year and even have multiple classes per year like the caribbean schols do. The fact is there is a insane shortage of med school seats available.

1) Allow more students per year? So we can have 12 students per cadaver in anatomy lab, as opposed to 6? Or have 5 students taking care of the same patient on their internal med rotation? Opening up more clinical rotation sites is very difficult, logistically. And getting more cadavers to fill up your anatomy lab is only feasible if you go out and harvest those cadavers yourself.

2) Multiple classes per year is hardly feasible in the US, seeing as the average med school academic year is 10 months long. The only way you could do that is if you hire people who ONLY teach, and ONLY teach med students. But, since most pre-med students look for "real clinicians and researchers" to teach them during 1st and 2nd year, that's not going to happen.

You could do all you suggested, but it would almost certainly lower the quality of medical education in this country. If that's what you want....

 

[LizzyM]

The schools could increase the number of students in the lecture hall by 10% quite easily but the self-limiting step in the equation is having faculty to teach small groups (PBL, physical exam skills, etc) and sufficient faculty and patients for clerkships. Schools often use "contributed service" faculty who support themselves through their private practices and contribute their time to the medical school in exchange for the privilege of admitting patients to the medical school affiliated hospital and a faculty appointment (which may have a halo effect which can attract patients) to conduct these small group teaching activities and to supervise students in clinical settings. There comes a point where you just can't absorb any more students given the number of physicians and patients available.

This has been made even more difficult as third party payers tighten the screws on physician reimbursement. Docs are working longer hours for the same income (or the same hours for lower income) and are feeling less generous with their time when the medical school comes calling for volunteers to teach at the bedside or in other small group settings.

 

[Addb]

Florida just got two more. Opening in the next year or two.

 

[Law2Doc]

The schools could increase the number of students in the lecture hall by 10% quite easily but the self-limiting step in the equation is having faculty to teach small groups (PBL, physical exam skills, etc) and sufficient faculty and patients for clerkships.

Actually physical infrastructure (actual number of seats, computer jacks, etc) in the existing lecture halls is the limiting factor for quite a few places.

 

[ssquared]

Actually physical infrastructure (actual number of seats, computer jacks, etc) in the existing lecture halls is the limiting factor for quite a few places.

Indeed, I've heard of several medical schools trying to beg off the pressure of increasing their class size by simply saying that the students can't fit into the lecture halls. And the fire marshall would have a cow if students were sitting in the aisles.

But I do think that we could use a few more medical schools, especially in certain states.

 

[nick_carraway]

Well I think I saw a report by the AAMC which said increasing enrollment is becoming more impossible for existing medical schools and so to reach the decree to increase the number of physicians in the US by 20% in the next decade or so (don't quote me on these numbers), more medical schools need to be built.

I think it just costs way too much and it takes very long to build and to staff one. UCR is California's first new med school in decades and it's taken years to build so far and it's not even ready yet (next year, supposedly). Back to the question, though, I don't think the Feds fund very much of it. Public schools primarily get their money from the State and private persons.

 

[braluk]

Theres also a new medical school that is opening up in Michigan (named Oakland school of medicine?) sometime in 2009. Cleveland Clinic also recently opened up a medical school (research based but still, it's a start).

 

[spanamit]

UC Riverside is opening up a new medical school.

 

[TheRealMD]

Building the buildings for a medical school isn't that hard (though you still have to find a space near a large area with a major hospital). It's finding the staff to TEACH at a hospital that's hard. And then you have to wait a few years until the school becomes like a well-oiled machine. You can't just crank out good med schools like like you can TVs or cars.

 

[GreenShirt]

The real bottleneck in the system is residency slots. You can open all the med school spots you want, but all those extra people will have no where to go once there done and they'll be in a lot of debt.

Why not create more residencies? It costs the government $2 million to train a resident (according to a med school dean).....so you can imagine that the government is not eager to spend more money. Which brings us to the root of all problems with the american healthcare system....simply not enough money to go around.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

Florida just got two more. Opening in the next year or two.

Yes at UCF and FIU. Mr. "REL" Larkin, a regular here on SDN giving advice to Florida medical school applicants, will be heading up the Admissions Depart at the new UCF COM as Admissions Director. The first class at UCF is slated to start in 2009 (next year's application season). He recently left USF COM.

 

[Tenacity]

UCR's medical school will be accepting students in 2012, from what I've heard. I go to UCR, and there is certainly no medical building ANYWHERE. The campus is all under construction, but it is a business school building, materials engineering and commons building.

 

[DrBowtie]

The real bottleneck in the system is residency slots. You can open all the med school spots you want, but all those extra people will have no where to go once there done and they'll be in a lot of debt.

Why not create more residencies? It costs the government $2 million to train a resident (according to a med school dean).....so you can imagine that the government is not eager to spend more money. Which brings us to the root of all problems with the american healthcare system....simply not enough money to go around.

There are plenty of residency spots. There are some that don't even fill after FMGs are accounted for. Sure they aren't Derm/Plastics spots but there are spots nonetheless in FP/IM/Peds. Places where the shortages are felt.