Health care personnel delivery system: another doctor draft?
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It appears that a general draft is not likely to occur. A physician draft is the most likely conscription into the military in the near future. Physicians inducted out of private practice with large practice expense overheads may suffer significant financial hardship. The only specific long-term deferment available to physicians is that of Essentiality of Occupation. Reserve component forces have been used extensively over the last few years to augment the active duty military. Medical units and personnel are no exceptions to this augmentation. After the most recent mobilization of reserve forces, many physicians may be leaving the National Guard and reserves because of the financial losses they suffered while mobilized. With the depletion of these supplemental physicians, who will the military use for future contingencies? A physician draft may be the only way to assure the health of our men and women in the military. Although this is not addressed in the HCPDS legislation, it is conceivable that physicians could be drafted into reserve medical units. There may be changes to the HCPDS over the next few years, such as a quicker response time for induction of health care personnel. The alternative service requirement for physician conscientious objectors has yet to be determined. Also, a reengineering effort was announced by the SSS in March 2003 to focus on the "special skills" mission. Currently this mission is only for health care personnel, but in the future it is foreseeable it may include linguists, environmental engineers, computer specialists, and other professionals. (+info)
Newly diagnosed diabetes: a study of parental satisfaction.
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A national survey of 509 parents of children with newly diagnosed diabetes elicited a 92% response rate, showing that 96% of children were admitted to hospital, 42% staying in hospital longer than one week and 41% received an intravenous infusion. More than 90% of parents expressed satisfaction with the information given at diagnosis, the preparation they received before discharge home, and the outpatient follow up services. Home visits from a diabetes nurse specialist (DNS) were received by 73% of families and 44% reported that the DNS was the most supportive person in the first year after diagnosis. Readmission during the first 12 months after diagnosis was required by 23% of children, more often in the youngest age group. Poor liaison with schools and the lack of diabetes knowledge in teachers were the sources of greatest dissatisfaction. Children under the care of paediatricians with no specialist interest in diabetes were significantly more likely to be kept in hospital longer at diagnosis and parents were less satisfied with outpatient care and school liaison. The study supports previous recommendations that diabetes nurse specialists are a priority resource in providing support services and that every district should have a paediatrician with a special interest in diabetes and a designated children's diabetic clinic. (+info)
Career choice of new medical students at three Canadian universities: family medicine versus specialty medicine.
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BACKGROUND: Over the last 10 years the number of medical students choosing family medicine as a career has steadily declined. Studies have demonstrated that career preference at the time that students begin medical school may be significantly associated with their ultimate career choice. We sought to identify the career preferences students have at entry to medical school and the factors related to family medicine as a first-choice career option. METHODS: A questionnaire was administered to students entering medical school programs at the time of entry at the University of Calgary (programs beginning in 2001 and 2002), University of British Columbia (2001 and 2002) and University of Alberta (2002). Students were asked to indicate their top 3 career choices and to rank the importance of 25 variables with respect to their career choice. Factor analysis was performed on the variables. Reliability of the factor scores was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficients; biserial correlations between the factors and career choice were also calculated. A logistic regression was performed using career choice (family v. other) as the criterion variable and the factors plus demographic characteristics as predictor variables. RESULTS: Of 583 students, 519 (89%) completed the questionnaire. Only 20% of the respondents identified family medicine as their first career option, and about half ranked family medicine in their top 3 choices. Factor analysis produced 5 factors (medical lifestyle, societal orientation, prestige, hospital orientation and varied scope of practice) that explained 52% of the variance in responses. The 5 factors demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and correlated in the expected direction with the choice of family medicine. Logistic regression revealed that students who identified family medicine as their first choice tended to be older, to be concerned about medical lifestyle and to have lived in smaller communities at the time of completing high school; they were also less likely to be hospital oriented. Moreover, students who chose family medicine were much more likely to demonstrate a societal orientation and to desire a varied scope of practice. INTERPRETATION: Several factors appear to drive students toward family medicine, most notably having a societal orientation and a desire for a varied scope of practice. If the factors that influence medical students to choose family medicine can be identified accurately, then it may be possible to use such a model to change medical school admission policies so that the number of students choosing to enter family medicine can be increased. (+info)
Access to Spanish-speaking physicians in California: supply, insurance, or both.
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BACKGROUND: National studies report patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) have difficulty finding bilingual physicians; however, it is unclear whether this situation is primarily a result of an inadequate supply of bilingual physicians or a lack of the insurance coverage necessary to gain access to bilingual physicians. In California, 12% of urban residents are Spanish-speaking with some limited proficiency in English. The majority of these residents (67%) are uninsured or on Medicaid. METHODS: In 2001, we performed a mailed survey of a probability sample of primary care and specialist physicians practicing in California. We received 1364 completed questionnaires from 2240 eligible physicians (61%). Physicians were asked about their demographics, practice characteristics, whether they were fluent in Spanish, and whether they had Medicaid or uninsured patients in their practice. RESULTS: Twenty-six percent of primary care and 22% of specialist physicians in the 13 urban study counties reported that they were fluent in Spanish. This represented 146 primary care and 66 specialist physicians who spoke Spanish for every 100,000 Spanish-speaking LEP residents. In contrast to the general population, there were only 48 Spanish-speaking primary care and 29 specialist physician equivalents available for every 100,000 Spanish-speaking LEP patients on Medicaid and even fewer (34 primary care and 4 specialist) Spanish-speaking physician equivalents for every 100,000 Spanish-speaking physician equivalents for uninsured Spanish-speaking LEP patients. CONCLUSION: Although the supply of Spanish-speaking physicians in California is relatively high, the insurance status of LEP Spanish-speaking patients limits their access to the physicians. Addressing health insurance-related barriers to care for those on Medicaid and the uninsured is critical to improving health care for Spanish-speaking LEP patients. (+info)
Ethical and programmatic challenges in antiretroviral scaling-up in Malawi: challenges in meeting the World Health Organization's "Treating 3 million by 2005" initiative goals.
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The Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly's (WHA's) resolution on the "scaling up of treatment and care within a coordinated and comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS' is welcomed globally, and even more so in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of the people currently in need of antiretroviral therapy do not have access to it. The WHA identified, among others, the following areas which should be pursued by member states and the World Health Organization (WHO): trained human resources, equity in access to treatment, development of health systems, and the integration of nutrition into the comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS. The WHO Director-General was requested to "provide a progress report on the implementation of this resolution to the Fifty-eighth World Health Assembly.' Much of what happens between now and that time depends on the actions of the WHO and the member states and also on the contribution of the international community to the fight against HIV/AIDS. Much of what is to be done will be based on what is available now in terms of practice, human resources, and programs. This paper explores the WHA's resolution, especially regarding the scaling up of antiretroviral therapy, taking Malawi as the case study, to identify the challenges that a Southern African country may be facing which will eventually influence whether the initiative to "Treat 3 Million by 2005' ("3 by 5') will be achieved or not. The challenges southern countries may be facing are presented in this paper not in order to undermine the initiative but to create an awareness of these factors and initiate the appropriate action which would surmount the challenges and achieve the goals set. (+info)
No exit: an evaluation of measures of physician attrition.
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OBJECTIVE: To validate physicians' self-reported intentions to leave clinical practice and the American Medical Association (AMA) Masterfile practice status variable as measures of physician attrition, and to determine predictors of intention to leave, and actual departure from, clinical practice. DATA SOURCES: Survey of specialist physicians in urban California (1998); the AMA Physician Masterfile (2001); and direct ascertainment of physician practice status (2001). STUDY DESIGN: Physicians' intention to leave clinical practice by 2001 (self-reported in 1998) was tested as a measure of each physician's actual practice status in 2001 (directly ascertained). Physician practice status according to the 2001 AMA Masterfile was also tested as a measure of physicians' actual practice status in 2001. Multivariate regression was used to predict both physicians' intentions to leave clinical practice and their actual departure. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: AMA Masterfile data on 2001 practice status were obtained for 967 of 968 physician respondents to the 1998 survey. Actual practice status for 2001 was directly ascertained for 957. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The sensitivity of Masterfile practice status as a measure of actual departure from clinical practice was 9.0 percent, and the positive predictive value was 52.9 percent. Allowing for a two-year reporting lag did not change this substantially. Self-reported intention to leave clinical practice had a sensitivity of 73.3 percent and a positive predictive value of 35.4 percent as a measure of actual departure from practice. The strongest predictor of both intention to leave clinical practice and actual departure from practice was older age. Physician dissatisfaction had a strong association (OR=5.6) with intention to leave clinical practice, but was not associated with actual departure from practice. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings call into question the accuracy of both AMA Masterfile data and physicians' self-reported intentions to leave as measures of physician attrition from clinical practice. Research using these measures should be interpreted with caution. Self-reported intention to leave practice may be more of a proxy for dissatisfaction than an accurate predictor of actual behavior. (+info)
The alignment and blending of payment incentives within physician organizations.
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OBJECTIVE: To analyze the blend of retrospective (fee-for-service, productivity-based salary) and prospective (capitation, nonproductivity-based salary) methods for compensating individual physicians within medical groups and independent practice associations (IPAs) and the influence of managed care on the compensation blend used by these physician organizations. DATA SOURCES: Of the 1,587 medical groups and IPAs with 20 or more physicians in the United States, 1,104 responded to a one-hour telephone survey, with 627 providing detailed information on physician payment methods. STUDY DESIGN: We calculated the distribution of compensation methods for primary care and specialty physicians, separately, in both medical groups and IPAs. Multivariate regression methods were used to analyze the influence of market and organizational factors on the payment method developed by physician organizations for individual physicians. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Within physician organizations, approximately one-quarter of physicians are paid on a purely retrospective (fee-for-service) basis, approximately one-quarter are paid on a purely prospective (capitation, nonproductivity-based salary) basis, and approximately one-half on blends of retrospective and prospective methods. Medical groups and IPAs in heavily penetrated managed care markets are significantly less likely to pay their individual physicians based on fee-for-service than are organizations in less heavily penetrated markets. CONCLUSIONS: Physician organizations rely on a wide range of prospective, retrospective, and blended payment methods and seek to align the incentives faced by individual physicians with the market incentives faced by the physician organization. (+info)
Results of the 2004 national resident matching program: family medicine.
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The results of the 2004 National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) reflect a leveling in the recent trend of declining student interest in family medicine residency training in the United States. Compared with the 2003 Match, 34 more positions (36 fewer US seniors) were filled in family medicine residency programs through the NRMP in 2004, at the same time as 14 fewer (four fewer US seniors) in primary care internal medicine, 10 more in pediatrics-primary care (one more US senior), and 35 more (38 more US seniors) in internal medicine-pediatric programs. In comparison, one less position (one more US senior) was filled in anesthesiology and seven fewer (five more US seniors) in diagnostic radiology, two "marker" disciplines that have shown increases over the past several years. Many different forces, including student perspectives of the demands, rewards, and prestige of the specialty; the turbulence and uncertainty of the health care environment; liability protection issues; and the impact of faculty and resident role models, continue to influence medical student career choices. A total of 165 more positions (12 more US seniors) were filled in categorical internal medicine while 164 more positions (15 more US seniors) were filled in categorical pediatrics programs, where trainees perceive options for either practicing as generalists or entering subspecialty fellowships, depending on the market. With the needs of the nation, especially for rural and underserved populations, continuing to offer opportunities for family physicians, family medicine experienced a slight increase through the 2004 NRMP. The 2004 NRMP suggests that the trend away from family medicine and primary care careers may be leveling off. (+info)