Saturday, December 12, 2009

MAFP

Why Not Family Medicine?

The students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) were not surprised to hear that the number of medical students entering Family Medicine has decreased by 50% since 1998. They too have seen the decreasing numbers within their medical school. Last year, there were two graduates who entered Family Medicine residencies from UMKC. This year there are five senior students applying for Family Medicine, which is definitely an improvement but still not as high as they would like. So why are fewer students choosing Family Medicine? The UMKC students tell all:

“I think one of the main reasons is money. When I tell people I want to go into Family, one of the first things they ask is how I'm going to be able to pay back my student loans from med school… When we wrote essays for medical school about why we wanted to be doctors, every paper had a variation of ‘Because I want to help people.’ When you say you don't want to go into family because it doesn't pay enough, it's like rewriting that and saying "Because I want to help people, but only if I get so much for doing it.’”
– Year 2 medical student

“I find it interesting that four out of the five students applying for Family Medicine this year were in the same year 1 and 2 docent groups at TMC Lakewood. From the start of medical school, these students were taught and supported by family physicians. Unfortunately, many medical students aren’t given this opportunity, and students don’t go into a field they don’t know about.”
– Year 6 medical student

“Primary care as a profession has fallen out of favor to many medical students for many reasons including decreased wages compared to specialists, increased difficulty with insurance and medicare/medicaid re-imbursements, lack of support for primary care throughout their medical school career.”
– Year 6 medical student

“Family Medicine doesn't pay as well as other specialties, and when considering debt and supporting a family, it is definitely a consideration. I think some people have also lost sight of the importance of a family doctor, such as for routine care and preventive services.”
– Year 4 medical student

“… probably the misconception about what a family doctor actually does in practice. People think that family medicine is a more easy-going specialty and the doctors aren’t as smart, but in reality these physicians have to know the widest range of diseases as well as how to interact with patients and families. These doctors understand the importance of relationships and know that when one person in a family is suffering, the whole family is affected. This is an important concept that I think is easily forgotten in other specialties.”
– Year 2 medical student

This November, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City offered $5,000 scholarships for students entering Family Medicine. Three of the chosen scholarships recipients were from UMKC: Cathy Cody, Louis Hagler, and Mimi Moon. Mimi gratefully responded to the scholarship by saying, “It means so much that the Blue Cross Blue Shield is recognizing students entering Family Medicine and supporting those who choose primary care. I hope this support for Family Medicine will continue to grow. One of my classmates said, ‘man, I should have chosen Family Medicine,’ after hearing about the scholarship.”
The leaders of the Family Medicine Interest Group are working to make the group steady, visible, and strong. They believe there are many students who enter medical school with an interest in Family Medicine that somewhere along the way gets lost. Whether this is due to peer pressure or financial reasons, the FMIG wants to offer these young students support throughout their medical school career. They hope that their community and medical school’s support for the field will also continue to spread. Their goal is to share knowledge about what Family Medicine doctors do and see a rise in the number of students entering Family Medicine over the next couple years.