Profession
Who's choosing primary care?
■ An occasional snapshot of current facts and trends in medicine.
Quick View. Posted Oct. 3, 2005
The number of residents is at an all-time high.
| 1995-96 | 2004-05 | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary care - all | ||
| All residents | 43,760 | 44,668 |
| U.S. MD | 28,144 (64.3%) | 26,214 (58.7%) |
| U.S. DO | 1,893 (4.3%) | 3,083 (6.9%) |
| U.S. IMG | 1,799 (4.1%) | 3,358 (7.5%) |
| Non-U.S. IMG | 11,529 (26.3%) | 11,867 (26.6%) |
| Other/missing info | 395 (0.9%) | 146 (0.3%) |
| Family medicine | ||
| All residents | 9,261 | 9,373 |
| U.S. MD | 6,870 (74.2%) | 4,848 (51.7%) |
| U.S. DO | 786 (8.5%) | 1,170 (12.5%) |
| U.S. IMG | 473 (5.1%) | 1,152 (12.3%) |
| Non-U.S. IMG | 1,072 (11.6%) | 2,178 (23.2%) |
| Other/missing info | 60 (0.6%) | 25 (0.3%) |
| Internal medicine | ||
| All residents | 21,071 | 21,332 |
| U.S. MD | 11,189 (53.1%) | 11,271 (52.8%) |
| U.S. DO | 697 (3.3%) | 1,097 (5.1%) |
| U.S. IMG | 931 (4.4%) | 1,411 (6.6%) |
| Non-U.S. IMG | 8,030 (38.1%) | 7,481 (35.1%) |
| Other/missing info | 224 (1.1%) | 72 (0.3%) |
| Ob-gyn | ||
| All residents | 5,007 | 4,703 |
| U.S. MD | 4,539 (90.7%) | 3,500 (74.4%) |
| U.S. DO | 145 (2.9%) | 310 (6.6%) |
| U.S. IMG | 72 (1.4%) | 256 (5.4%) |
| Non-U.S. IMG | 231 (4.6%) | 623 (13.2%) |
| Other/missing info | 20 (0.4%) | 14 (0.3%) |
| Pediatrics | ||
| All residents | 7354 | 7811 |
| U.S MD | 4693 (63.8%) | 5415 (69.3%) |
| U.S DO | 222 (3.0%) | 442 (5.7%) |
| U.S. IMG | 292 (4.0%) | 485 (6.2%) |
| Non-U.S. IMG | 2064 (28.1%) | 1436 (18.4%) |
| Other/missing info | 83 (1.1%) | 33 (0.4%) |
| Internal medicine/pediatrics | ||
| Total residents | 1067 | 1449 |
| U.S. MD | 853 (79.9%) | 1180 (81.4%) |
| U.S DO | 43 (4.0%) | 64 (4.4%) |
| U.S. IMG | 31 (2.9%) | 54 (3.7%) |
| Non-U.S. IMG | 132 (12.4%) | 149 (10.3%) |
| Other/missing info | 8 (0.7%) | 2 (0.1%) |
The total number of physicians in training last year reached 101,291 residents. Subspecialty fellows drove most of the growth over the past five years, making up 14.1% of residents in 2004-05, up from 12.8% 1999-2000. Primary care residents accounted for more than 43% of the nation's doctors in training.
Source: "U.S. Graduate Medical Education, 2004-2005, Trends in Primary Care Specialties" Journal of the American Medical Association, Sept. 7
Copyright © 2005 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
