WOMENS-HEALTH Messages for July, 2000: Re: PCP's

Re: PCP's

From: Abbey (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Thu, 27 Jul 2000 23:29:12 -0500 (CDT)

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The number of US graduates going into PC has actually increased dramatically over the past few years, especially compared to 10-20 years ago. This is due to med schools' efforts to attract students interested in primary care and to the limited job opportunities for many sub-specialists. However, many of these young doctors are likely just out of residency or still in training, so they may not have filtered down to your PCP list yet. Besides, many of these recent graduates are in debt up to $200,000! (I'm applying to med school this year and the majority of schools I've applied to charge over $30,000 per year for tuition alone! I intend to be a primary care internist, but I can't really fault someone for wanting to go into dermatology or ophthalmology- great money, great hours, much less sacrifice!) At the same time, there is a major movement to reduce the numbers of international medical graduates practicing in this country. In the past, the majority of US students chose to pursue lucrative specialist careers or positions in affluent suburbia. Since there were insufficient numbers of US grads to fill these slots, international graduates gladly occupied them and usually ended up getting permanent resident visas since their services were deemed necessary. BTW do you live in NJ,NY, or WV by any chance? Those are the 3 states with the greatest proportion of foreign-trained physicians- and generally, they're in places no American wants to go. That said- don't read too much by the last name. I have a foreign-sounding last name myself, but am perfectly fluent in English. My suggestion, if you're concerned about finding a native speaker physician: Try the AMA's online doctor finder at http://www.ama-assn.org/aps/amahg.htm This site searches all licensed physicians in the US, by either name or medical specialty, and will tell you where the doctor went to med school and where he/she did residency. That should at least get you started. Next, try calling the doctor's office and asking the staff (some are more receptive than others...a very nice office staff is usually a good sign, I've found!) Good luck! I hope you find a PCP you like (I sympathize, as I'm very unhappy with my current PCP, unfortunately :-( LOVE my GYN nurse practitioner, tho! Too bad she can't be my PCP!)

At Thu, 27 Jul 2000, AMD wrote: >
>Is there a trend in the U.S. that American med students are not getting
>into primary care? I have been going through my insurers web site trying
>to find a new PCP for me and my husband, and it seems that a lot of the
>names are most definitely "unAmerican". I'm sure these doctors are
>perfectly good doctors, but the notion of a PCP who is not completely
>fluent in English concerns me (I still have bad memories of physics
>professors in college!!). I was just wondering if this was a local
>thing, or if this was happening all over the country?
>
>Andrea

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