Less US medical students choose to work in primary care

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting article about more and more US medical graduates choose their careers in specialties over primary care. It has attracted a large number of comments.

The article is based on two studies published in this week's JAMA. A research letter in the journal suggests that higher pay in specialties is a reason for the career choose.

A survey, published in the same journal, involving 1177 fourth-year medical students at 11 US medical schools in 2007, found that only 2% planned to work in primary care internal medicine. A similar survey in 1990 found 9%. The decline has raised worries about shortage of primary care physicians in the US.

Paper work, increasing demands of the chronically ill, the elderly and people with complex diseases and students' concerns about the primary care system, insurance pays, lawsuits, debts, the need to see large number of patients daily to break even also contibute to the primary care gap. Some primary care physicians feel that specialty doctors get more respect and chance of practice medicine.

Source: Research letter - "Future Salary and US Residency Fill Rate Revisited" JAMA. 2008;300(10):1131-1132 ( f/t via Athens )

Source: "Factors Associated With Medical Students' Career Choices Regarding Internal Medicine" . JAMA. 2008;300(10):1154-1164 ( f/t via Athens )

Art class will make better doctors?

Art courses are now offered to medical students in medical schools in the US to help improve their observation and diagnostic skills, reported The Boston Globe.

Dr Joel Katz, an internist at an American hospital, runs art courses for medical students and wrote about a study that showed medical students' ability to make accurate observations increased after completing the art course while the control group who did not take the course did not change. He said that doctors' physical examination skills are declining and many rely on technology to do their work. He believes that art class will train students to look more carefully at patients for clues and do not make assumptions about what they see.

Source: "Formal Art Observation Training Improves Medical Students’ Visual Diagnostic Skills" Journal of General Internal Medicine 2008; 23(7) : 991-7