They’re both going to be scarce.
Along with primary care, cardiothoracic surgeons are projected to be in short supply, according to a report in MedPage Today. A study found in Circulation suggested that fewer medical students are pursuing the field, leading to a “shortage of at least 1,500 surgeons or 25% of the likely projected need.”
Lifestyle issues are cited, as it takes over 8 years of post-graduate training to become a cardiothoracic surgeon.
It’s interesting to note, however, whether the need for bypass surgery will be the same 10 to 15 years from now. Already, the frequency of bypass surgery for coronary artery disease has decreased by 28 percent from 1997 to 2004, while the frequency of cardiac stenting has more than doubled over the same period.
Perhaps the waning demand for their services may render cardiac surgeons less relevant, and thus, less heavily in demand in the future.
Related posts:
- Online cardiac surgery simulations for aspiring heart surgeons
- Cardiac arrest and good business
- Did Demerol cause Michael Jackson’s cardiac arrest and death?
- Cardiac scans are being overused
- How did Michael Jackson die, and the medicine behind sudden cardiac death
- Should specialists be re-trained as primary care physicians?
- Slideshow of cardiac bypass surgery
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The health care reform debate will also influence the number of students who will choose medicine as a career. I have read nothing about any ‘reform’ of the stratospheric costs of medical school education. Why would a pre-med incur enormous debt to become a physician, to then go on to work as a salaried employee for some entity? While passion for the medical profession will still hopefully draw some, marketplace forces that will make many students choose other careers.
You might find this video from The Doctor’s Channel to be relevant. It discusses how factors such as increasing medical school debt and insufficient reimbursements for family, pediatric, and internal medicine physicians make primary care an undesirable field in the eyes of aspiring doctors.
http://www.thedoctorschannel.com/video/2289.html
Dr. Kirsch– I think you are right, but hope you are wrong. I’m a young physician, and often wonder who the physicians of the future will be when it is economically undesirable to be an internist and the only thing we have is procedural specialists. They’ll soon be squeezed, and then it will no longer be desirable to pursue a medical education, or at least will be desirable only to those absolutely dedicated to the profession. I’m not saying doctors went in it for the money, but it does not help that high expectations for care are unmatched by compensation. The sadness is not physicians aren’t really at the table to define medical care and how it should be.
Ernie, I hope that I am wrong also, but I am concerned. Professions will always attract those who passionately pursue them. For example, many folks work in the government or for non-profit organizations for reasons that transcend their modest salaries. So, it will be with medicine. However, a medical education costs a fortune, a set salary afterwards will not draw our best and brightest to medical school. Beyond salary, there may be many other profound changes in the profession that may make it a less attractive career option. I didn’t go into medicine for the money either. But, I think the long years of training we all did entitle us to be well compensated.
Primary care shortage could easily be solved:
1) Dramatically increase number of medical school slots
2) Make all NEW medical school slots available to US citizens/Permanent US residents as top priority
3) Contract for FREE med school education in exchange for matching # of years in primary care (no buyouts, no loopholes)
As far as CTS, I was physician recruiter for 12 years, had many wonderful cardiac surgeons experiencing oversupply due to cardiologists performing procedures previously performed only by cardiothoracic surgeons. The overlap of noninvasive/electrophysiologist cardiac specialties into interventional/invasive, and all those stepping into CTS domain has blurred the line between medicine and surgery (from a patient perspective, I’m not sure for the good…)
Valves and transplants will always keep CTS a necessity, but as long as folks are happy with cardiologists shoving stuff into their chests without even CTS backup available onsite or nearby, demand for this surgical specialty will decline.
As for me, if I ever need a pacemaker or ICD, I’ll travel to a board certified CardioThoracic Surgeon. I only have one heart, and one life.
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