AAMC Calls for 30% Increase in Med School Enrollment
The Association of American Medical Colleges wants U.S. medical schools to increase their student enrollment by 30 per cent by 2015. Without that increase, it says, the U.S. will not have enough trained physicians to meet the needs of its growing population.
The AAMC's plan would result in about 5,000 more M.D.s graduating from allopathic medical schools each year. The AAMC believes this can be achieved by expanding enrollment at existing medical schools and by establishing new schools.
The AAMC also suggested that American health care experts and educators consider whether foreign medical schools could play a role in training U.S. physicians. The Association suggested that an accreditation process be established to assess the quality of teaching offered at such schools and to facilitate U.S. clinical training for their American graduates.
However, medical schools alone cannot address the problem of producing more physicians, the AAMC noted. It also called on the U.S. government to increase the number of teaching hospital residencies funded by Medicare.
Just over a year ago, the AAMC called for a 15 per cent increase in medical school enrollment. Further research has led it to conclude that a much larger increase is needed to head off a shortfall in U.S. medical personnel.
Some of the observations that led to AAMC's conclusion are that:
- The U.S. population is growing by about 2.5 million people each year.
- The percentage of Americans aged 66 and older will double between 2000 and 2030.
- About one out of three M.D.s now practicing in the U.S. is 56 or older and likely to retire by 2020.
- Younger physicians, like other professionals, want more work-life balance and are less willing to put in the extended hours that the last generation of physicians accepted as a norm.
Source: "AAMC Calls for 30 Percent Increase in Medical School Enrollment" - press release, the Association of American Medical Colleges (Washington, DC), June 19, 2006
The AAMC's plan would result in about 5,000 more M.D.s graduating from allopathic medical schools each year. The AAMC believes this can be achieved by expanding enrollment at existing medical schools and by establishing new schools.
The AAMC also suggested that American health care experts and educators consider whether foreign medical schools could play a role in training U.S. physicians. The Association suggested that an accreditation process be established to assess the quality of teaching offered at such schools and to facilitate U.S. clinical training for their American graduates.
However, medical schools alone cannot address the problem of producing more physicians, the AAMC noted. It also called on the U.S. government to increase the number of teaching hospital residencies funded by Medicare.
Just over a year ago, the AAMC called for a 15 per cent increase in medical school enrollment. Further research has led it to conclude that a much larger increase is needed to head off a shortfall in U.S. medical personnel.
Some of the observations that led to AAMC's conclusion are that:
- The U.S. population is growing by about 2.5 million people each year.
- The percentage of Americans aged 66 and older will double between 2000 and 2030.
- About one out of three M.D.s now practicing in the U.S. is 56 or older and likely to retire by 2020.
- Younger physicians, like other professionals, want more work-life balance and are less willing to put in the extended hours that the last generation of physicians accepted as a norm.
Source: "AAMC Calls for 30 Percent Increase in Medical School Enrollment" - press release, the Association of American Medical Colleges (Washington, DC), June 19, 2006
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