Projected FM positions...

[Faebinder]

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So I was bored last night and did some analysis on nrmp data.

The first year at which the number of offered FM positions is equal to pediatrics is 2007 (this application year). Making FM the third largest trainer of medical graduates instead of the second.

I'm predicting it drops another 1000 by 2013 and catches up with ER by then. That's actually good news for people already in practice. You'll be cherry picking your patients. (of course bad news for the patients who will have to go to the ER for little things cause they dont have a primary care doc.)

 

[sophiejane]

We have programs like Baylor to thank for that (and many others, I'm sure), whose administrators and faculty actively discourage particularly their higher-performing students from choosing family medicine.

One graduate of an upper tier medical school explained that part of the reason for this may be that FM doesn't generate as many research dollars as the subspecialties, and great family physicians rarely make the news (or get regular spots on Oprah like CT surgeons do, apparently).

 

[Faebinder]

I try to explain that to people... someone who has research is nothing to laugh at. NIH Grant = Money to the University + Prestige for the Department.

The chairs of the department understand that and I am shocked that for a long time FM didn't care for research... but that is because they wanted to isolate themselves from the ivory tower of Academia.... I think it bit them in the ass to be honest... You can't take the scientist out of the physician and think you cannot be replaced by a none scientist (mid-levels, therapists and nurses). I'm glad FM is getting back on track in that sense...

The reducing number of positions is an icing in my opinion.

 

[Saluda]

(or get regular spots on Oprah like CT surgeons do, apparently).

easy on the CT surgeons, Sophie.... there is nothing wrong with them when they are in the OR TAKING CARE OF PATIENTS like they are supposed to. Who the heck else is going to stand and sew up grandmas aorta at 3am?

It's only when they go out and parade themselves as preventive care/ primary care types that they are a pain in the ass.
Dr Oz (hearts) and Sanjay Gupta (neurosurgery) are such uber specialists they have no business "teaching the American people" about their health care. I mean, they are out there preaching about women's health, but when was the last time either one did a pap smear or a breast exam???? Med school, I'll bet. Maybe intern year. What a joke.

 

[sophiejane]

Dr Oz (hearts) and Sanjay Gupta (neurosurgery) are such uber specialists they have no business "teaching the American people" about their health care. I mean, they are out there preaching about women's health, but when was the last time either one did a pap smear or a breast exam???? Med school, I'll bet. Maybe intern year. What a joke.

Well said. I have absolutely nothing against subspecialists, but it sure would be nice to see a few family docs get exposure like that, especially since we are the ones on the front lines of preventive medicine, unlike neurosurgeons and CT surgeons, whose specialties pretty much represent the antithesis of preventive care.

 

[M. Platini]

I try to explain that to people... someone who has research is nothing to laugh at. NIH Grant = Money to the University + Prestige for the Department.

The chairs of the department understand that and I am shocked that for a long time FM didn't care for research... but that is because they wanted to isolate themselves from the ivory tower of Academia.... I think it bit them in the ass to be honest... You can't take the scientist out of the physician and think you cannot be replaced by a none scientist (mid-levels, therapists and nurses). I'm glad FM is getting back on track in that sense...

The reducing number of positions is an icing in my opinion.

I whole heartedly agree and have felt the same way.... I think that the way things are at present, a talented sports medicine oriented student who is interested in research might be tempted toward ortho instead of FM just because of the environment he envisages being in. All the while, I think FM docs could do a tremendous amount of research in exercise physiology, sports medicine, and rehab (cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle) that at present time is done by Ph.D's, orthopedists, or physiatrists.