• Education based in patient oriented problems
  • Very early patient contacts
  • Very large clinical patient base
  • Emphasis on ambulatory patient care education
  • Emphasis on multicultural and evidence based medicine
  • Education supported by state-of-the-art instructional digital technologies based on patient electronic health records.

The shortage of physicians in the USA is serious as or worse than the well known shortage of nurses. There are approximately 650,000 licensed allopathic physicians in the USA and 55,000 licensed osteopathic doctors, available to provide patient care. This number is not nearly enough and it is considered that the deficit will increase over time.

In recent years, many state and national leaders realized that past assumptions about a physician surplus have failed to materialize and, instead, many regions of the country will be facing a major shortage of physicians. Prestigious national organizations as the American Medical Association, Council on Graduate Medical Education, Association of American Medical Colleges, American College of Physicians, and the U.S. Bureau of Health Professions are now projecting an impending shortage of physicians, which is expected to reach 200,000 by 2020.

 

  • Demand for physician services expected to increase by 33% between 2000 and 2020
  • Population growth that continues to outpace growth in the physician workforce
  • Retirement rate for physicians outpacing number of new entrants into medicine
  • The education of physicians in the U.S. is lengthy and involves undergraduate education, medical school and graduate medical education (GME) which includes residency and fellowship training