There definitely seems to be a shortage of primary care physicians. Rekindling interest in becoming a PCP over a specialist is going to take some major incentives. Medical students, for any number of reasons, may prefer to specialize and see little benefit in not doing so. There is little to encourage them to give up something they may be more interested in, may bring them more prestige and most certainly will bring them more money.
Because specializations have become so romanticized, many people view being a primary care physician as a bit disinterseting. Specializing also gives doctors the added benefit of a more financially comfortable lifestyle. If more PCPs are needed then the system needs to compete with the benefits that specialized physicians get whether its money, respect or simply a better system to work in that allows them to contribute to their patients health as a whole. I don't know the answer to how we could increase the number of PCPs but it does seem like it would be a double-edged sword. I'd hesitate to lose people willing to spend additional years of their lives studying to specialize, because that is certainly going to be needed but at the same time, PCPs are needed to ensure that the general population is living a healthy lifestyle. Perhaps their needs to be a change in policy and industry?
No comments:
Post a Comment