A potentially “severe shortage” of general surgeons is looming in the United States — leaving fewer doctors to repair hernias, operate on accident victims and carry out other common procedures, a study concluded. Researchers charted a nearly 26 percent drop in the ratio of general surgeons to patients since 1981, decreasing from 7.68 per 100,000 Americans to 5.69 by 2005. The timing is lousy. General surgeons are losing ranks while aging baby boomers are starting to need their skills for procedures ranging from gallbladder removals to cancer operations. “You have a decreasing number of general surgeons in the face of an increasing elderly population whose demand for surgical services is only going to increase,” said Dr. Dana C. Lynge, a general surgeon and lead author of the study from the University of Washington in Seattle. “That’s why everyone is concerned.” The trend is part of an overall shift in medicine from general to narrow fields, with medical students’ choices shaped by a variety of lifestyle and money issues. Young doctors put a higher value on their personal lives, making fields that require frequent and unpredictable hospital duties less attractive, Lynge said.
Please click on the link below to read the Orlando Sentinel article:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/orl-surgeon2208apr22,0,6077865.story
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