Response to New US Medical Schools to Open Doors

Abstract

I applaud Jan Greene's “New US Medical Schools to Open Doors: But Residency Shortage Still the Bottleneck,” especially her analysis of how the recent and projected growth in medical education will solve neither the challenges associated with current residency slot restrictions nor the geographic maldistribution of physicians practicing in the United States. In addition to the growth among MD schools Ms. Greene discusses, osteopathic medical colleges also are growing. During the last decade, osteopathic medical education has grown from 19 colleges with just over 10,300 students to 26 colleges with more than 19,400 students. The nation's 26 colleges of osteopathic medicine, 4 branch campuses, and 4 additional teaching sites are now educating more than 20% of all new US medical students. Osteopathic medical schools graduated 3,631 new physicians in 2010, a number that is expected to increase to 5,849 by 2019. Some 360 (nearly 10%) of last year's graduating osteopathic physicians (DOs) entered emergency medicine residencies, a number that will increase as the number of new DOs entering the workforce increases annually. Colleges of osteopathic medicine have a long history of dedication to training physicians to work in America's smaller communities, rural areas, and underserved urban areas, allowing DOs to have a greater influence on the US population's health and well-being than their numbers would suggest. I am hopeful that, with the help of the nation's growing number of DO and MD medical colleges and the emergency physicians they graduate, and with support from the federal government agencies that are being encouraged to broaden programs to improve both residency funding and the distribution of US physicians, we can avert a crisis. The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine represents the 26 US colleges of osteopathic medicine and their faculties, students, and administrators. New US Medical Schools to Open Doors: But Residency Shortage Still the BottleneckAnnals of Emergency MedicineVol. 57Issue 5PreviewSpurred by calls to reverse an impending shortage of physicians for an aging population, new medical schools are opening at an unprecedented pace. Fifteen new schools are in the process of being accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education; they would join the 134 accredited US medical schools already in existence (9 more than existed in 2002). The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates these expansions will result in an additional 7,000 graduates every year throughout the next decade. Full-Text PDF