Just 2 percent of medical students choosing primary care

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that just two percent of graduating medical students plan to work in primary care internal medicine (Source: “Fewer med students are choosing primary care,” Associated Press/ MSNBC, Sept. 10, 2008).

Among the reasons medical students gave for not choosing family medicine, according to the online survey, include relatively low salary, difficulty with insurance reimbursement and the strain of treating patients with chronic conditions.

One concern is that teaching hospitals may cut primary care programs if the lack of interest continues. In an editorial in JAMA, Dr. David Goodman, associate director of the Center for Health Policy Research at Dartmouth Medical School, said that Congress, which provides $10 billion a year to teaching hospitals, should create a regulatory commission to encourage training in needed specialties such as internal medicine.

Goodman also argued that health costs are kept down by the coordination of care provided by primary care doctors because they can help prevent drug interactions, unneeded procedures and fragmented care.