Rural areas hit hardest by general surgeon shortage

As the number of general surgeons continues to shrink nationwide, patients at rural community hospitals face the prospect of longer waits for routine operations (Source: "General surgeons needed in U.S. ... stat!" Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 22, 2009).

While the American Medical Association says the number of general surgeons in the United States dropped from 27,509 in 1998 to 24,902 in 2002, the number today is probably closer to 17,000, according to Dr. George Sheldon, a national authority on the shortage. And according to data from the American College of Surgeons' Health Policy and Research Institute at the University of North Carolina, more than a third of critical-access rural hospitals do not have a single surgeon who lives in the county where the hospital is located.