opinion
Shorter medical degree track could be the next fix that fails
LETTER — Posted June 11, 2012
Regarding “Med school on the fast track: A 3-year degree” (Article, May 7): I think the government and medical education establishment are misguided by trying to solve the shortage of primary care physicians by diminishing the importance of education and training. Now there are midlevel practitioners who have been given the role of “provider” who have many years less education than physicians. This is a prime example of “fixes that fail,” which is the implementation of short-term solutions that eventually cause greater problems.
If the primary care physician specialist did not have to compete with midlevels with half the training, there would be more primary care physicians. Where are the midlevel surgeons?
Michael Reeh, MD, Hillsboro, KAn.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/06/11/edlt0611.htm.
