DB 4
Question: The healthcare industry is one of the largest employers in the U.S. and employs more than 3%
of the U.S. workforce. There are approximately 200 health occupations and professions in a workforce of
more than 14 million healthcare workers. By 2030, the percentage of the population that is 65 years and
older will increase from the current 6% to 10% of the total population, which will place pressure on the
healthcare system (National Center for Health Statistics, 2008). At the same time, the country is currently
experiencing a national shortage of both physicians and nurses. Choose either physicians or nurses and
address an element (based on current research) contributing to the shortage. Next, what strategies can
you suggest to rectify this employment issue?
Answer: There are a few reasons for the predicted shortage of physicians one being the increase in U.S.
population. It is expected that this will continue to increase, by 2050 the U.S. population is expected to
increase by 50% and reach 420,000,000 individuals (Williams & Ellison, 2008). In addition to the
population, those that are aging will continue to age as the life expectancy has also increased. According
to research published by the Association of American Medical Colleges, (2017) “the number of U.S.
residents aged 65 and older is expected to increase by 55%, and the number of people aged 75 and older
will grow by 73% during the same period”.
Another factor that contributes to the projected physician shortage is the Affordable Care Act and the
expansion of government-based insurance like Medicaid and Medicare. Alongside these programs are
was the development of the marketplace which helped insure more individuals because of the
affordability of insurance, this too played a role in the increase of health care services. As a result, you
now have a significant increase in insured individuals that otherwise wouldn’t seek medical treatment.
The most in demand physician specialty is family medicine according to the Journal of Medical Practice
Management. Therefore, I think its most important not only to recruit physician but to guide prospective
physicians into a field that is most served by the public. The problem lies in the fact that most medical
students will opt for a high paying specialty rather than a family practitioner. It is reported that medical
students “understand how fulfilling and challenging the specialties are, and they are making perfectly
rational choices not to become primary care doctors” (Frisch, 2013, p.1). At this point, I believe it’s also
necessary to consider the gifts God has placed into our hearts because despite what people think we
should do our destiny should be determined by Christ. In Corinthians 12 it speaks about the different
gifts God had bestowed on different people and in the eleventh verse it says, “all these are the work of
one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines”.
To help recruit primary care physician’s it would be necessary first to offer monetary incentive, as we
know the cost of medical school compounds to significant debt and in comparison, to other fields the
salary isn’t as appealing. “On average, these doctors earn $177 600 (£110 500; €130 000) annually,
compared with orthopedists, who earn $405 000 a year, and cardiologists, who earn $357,000” (Frisch,
2013, p.1).
To address the physician shortage in general I do believe one possible solution is to allow well-seasoned
physician assistants and nurse practitioners (NP) practice with more autonomy. Right now, they, in most
states, have to work under the supervision of a medical doctor, however, I think this will help curve some
of the deficit in health care services. “NPs provide economically efficient health care by reducing the cost
of buying basic care and freeing up physicians to focus on complex illnesses” (Zand, 2011, p.266).
Doctors argue that NP’s education curricula aren’t extensive enough my I would counteract that
argument, I think many patients today receive most of their general care through a nurse practitioner or
physician assistant. Pynes and Lomardi (2011), report that healthcare organizations have a difficult time
recruiting due to the shortage of health care personnel. For this reason, I would advocate for NP’s and
PA’s being primarily responsible for simple common health care assessments as one means of dealing
with the physician shortage.
References
Frisch, S. (2013). The primary care physician shortage. BMJ : British Medical Journal, 347(nov04 6),
f6559-f6559. 10.1136/bmj.f6559
The 10 most in-demand physician specialties. (2014). The Journal of Medical Practice Management :
MPM, 30(3), 151.
Williams, T. E., & Ellison, E. C. (2008). Population analysis predicts a future critical shortage of general
surgeons. Surgery, 144(4), 548-556. 10.1016/j.surg.2008.05.019
Zand, M. B. (2011). Nursing the primary care shortage back to health: How expanding nurse practitioner
autonomy can safely and economically meet the growing demand for basic health care. Journal of Law
and Health, 24(2), 261.
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