AAMC: "America has a doctor shortage! We need more doctors!" Also AAMC: * makes just applying to medical school so ungodly expensive every year that potential doctors from lower income households are discouraged from applying *

Medical school expense despite a Doctor shortage is one of those things that make little sense.

Haven't watched yet but probably has dollar signs somewhere in there

Tbh I've always viewed this as a remarkably simple issue: The AMA and AAMC deliberately lobby for policies that keep medical care expensive. Institutionally, the American medical system is singularly focused on maximizing profits. As such, limiting the supply of doctors is a logical action. Producing a small pool of doctors gives you control over supply. Making sure they have crippling debt means they won't rock the boat. Seems pretty basic to me

I'm a medical doctor who spent 4 years in a college degree and 10 years in medical training to become a subspecialist. The system in the U.S. is weird with regard to residency because hospitals should be the one paying resident trainees for the huge amount of work that they do. In my country, residents are always employees of the hospital, albeit temporary ones, and get a regular salary. It's quite low relative to the hours spent but it's high compared to most other positions in the hospital.

Thank you for posting this video. Thousands and thousands of us are unmatched and have no place to train despite being massively qualified. The critical part not mentioned in this video is the existence of many unmatched U.S. IMGs (Ross, UAG, SGU, other Caribbean schools, India, Pakistan, UK, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, UAE, etc.). Unfortunately, there remains a high stigma of U.S.-IMGs attending school outside the country. It makes no sense. Fortunately, the Missouri Assistant Physician and Arizona Transitional Training Permit were developed for some of us to keep our clinical skills sharp as we feverishly prepare ourselves for subsequent Match Seasons. Yes, seasons. The year of graduation residency programs set for interview criteria puts us in a significant chokehold. Not only do previously unmatched American medical graduates apply, but the scores of fourth years, previously unmatched, and new applicants of well-established physicians across the globe apply. The number of residency spots does not match the number of applicants yearly. Regardless, they still gladly accept everyone's money during application season. Furthermore, many of these unmatched physicians come from underrepresented and marginalized communities. Of course, if you have no data to show this, it is like commanding the winds to cease blowing. The fact is that 119,000K+ physicians in the U.S. have gone unmatched since 2010. The organization I am a part of has met with Congressional offices and Senators across the United States over the past two years, asking them to increase the number of GME slots via H.R. 2256, the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2021, including opening training programs in rural areas. At best, they are astonished about the number and the pathway to becoming a licensed physician in the United States. Any of you can call up the offices of your state reps and request that they endorse this bill. It is a start because we need all the help we can get.

Because this is America. Here, we solve problems by creating more problems. Cost our students more. Create bottle-neck at the top so that medical school does not have enough residency seats for graduate even IF our medical school takes more students. Bag as much money we can. Then turn around with the audacity to call it a "doctor shortage". Then we allow foreign doctors to come into our country to practice instead focusing on improving the process of creating American doctors. We have made medicine a field that only a selective few can access.

My dream once was to become a veterinarian. After learning tuition would cost me $70k a year, a vet’s salary isn’t as highly paid as MD, and veterinarians have the highest suicide rates I didn’t pursue it. A lot of the doctors I worked under were overworked, burnt out, and overwhelmed.

I haven’t even started this video yet. But I grew up poor and not very well educated. All I knew was getting into the health department was extremely expensive, and wait list were incredibly long. Now I’m in my 30s and went through a traumatic experience that has driven me too become a paramedic. The world doesn’t encourage you to be a doctor or anything like that anymore. This will not change anytime soon either.

As a person who just finished high school and planning on becoming a physician, the most critical factors for me are time and money. It is scary to realize that in my 30 I’ll only reach attendance level with 300k dept behind me

It's all greed. Greed from the medical schools continuously increases tuition costs, even though everyone and their dog ACTUALLY learn medicine using 3rd party resources. Greed from the government limiting the funds to train more residents. Greed from our OWN doctors thinking about their own salary instead of the future of their profession and going against more physician training. Don't even get me started on how Residency itself is basically free labor for hospitals. Hiring a resident is cheaper than an RN. Do the math on the hours they work + how much their salaries are, and they barely make over minimum wage, or even below it sometimes. It's a no-brainer how so many people quit after years of being abused by the system, and then that system turns around and makes a surprised Pikachu face at the physician shortage.

I decided not to Persue medicine because I’m not willing to take so much debt. They ask for 1 million requirements and even then you’re not guaranteed to get in. Fuck the med school system in this country.

with all these limitations on medicine, the government's continued reach into medical practice, greedy hospital administration that cares more about profit than care I wouldn't be surprised if the shortage of physicians doubles by 2034. It's sickening what medicine has evolved into.

It’s pretty irritating when I want to become an anesthesiologist, but need 14 years of schooling. Most of which is bs classes that have nothing to do with medicine or anesthesiology. Meanwhile, my Gf is a registered Vet Tech that did a 2 year program at community college and is an anesthesiologist for dogs. Like wtf is this? The exact same biological processes, even harder for animals because you have to figure out every last thing because they can’t talk. But because an animal can’t sue you, it some how justifies another 12 years of schooling and $300k of debt. America 🇺🇸

Great video, definitely gave a lot of clarity to the issue!

There's no shortage of applicants. Funding however.

These were all the reasons that made me reconsider back when I was studying for the MCAT. It’s ridiculous that there are so many barriers to entry.

This is why many people are going into nursing or physician assistant route shorter training and still make good money.

The other problem with recruiting foreign doctors that people don’t mention is called the ‘brain drain’. We’re taking all the professionals from poor countries who really need those professionals. I’m not saying we shouldn’t take foreign doctors, but it’s another point to think about that wasn’t mentioned

I really don’t understand why we need a 4 year degree first considering you can even apply with an art degree

I relate to this a lot! My SO did a foreign medical degree, with the intention of doing Step 1 and residency here. But he's already found a job that he likes! If there was a better training system here, he'd be a great candidate to work at low income clinics off and on. (He grew up poor and is very interested in volunteering.) As is, there's too high of a cost to take a pay cut and have those horrible residency hours.

Working on a solution to this, will watch this video :) thanks for the good content

Spanish speaking residents of Miami have figured out one the fastest ways to become a physician. Two years of pre-med classes at Dade County Community College, and 4 years of medical school in the Dominican Republic or South America. No MCAT,, no shadowing, no research, no volunteering required. Do well on the STEP exams and fluency in Spanish (much in demand) and you are in a US residency. Learning Spanish can be as important as an MCAT score to becoming a physician.

Can we talk about how medical boards specifically don't allow too many people to enter a medical school, so that salaries can stay high?

I'm impressed at how thoroughly this issue is covered. Thank you for the insight!

Healthcare System: You should consider becoming a doctor. All you need are 11 years to gain the expertise required to go into medicine. Me: So I have to throw 11 years of my life away? Healthcare System: Yes, and go into 6 figure debt too. But it’s rewarding. Me: Wow, so I sacrifice my best years and have to pay for it, what a deal!

Great review. RS, MD, FRCS. Canada

Im so excited to become a medical school student thank you for making these videos

I have wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid. I hope things change cause it will make this dream of mine that much more attainable.

We may be short on Dr's. But we have PA and NP which is something that does not exist in other countries.

Very informational. Thank you for the time and effort that you put in to producing this video. One aspect of this situation that you did not explore is the contribution of non-physician providers (NPPs) to the delivery of

Dr. Kevin back at it

Switzerland is not really a good example: you graduate high school at age 19 then you have an entry exam to study medicine with an acceptance rate of around 35%, which many have to retake, then 6 years of medschool and at least 5-6 years of residency (3 years is only for primary care and most take longer to complete their residency) for a total of around 12 years. Average age to finish residency is 35

America does not have a doctor shortage but a distribution shortage. Chicago has a many cardiologists as the UK and rural Arkansas some has none in 100 mile radius.

Excelente video!

You nailed it.

Addresses some of the issues... The reality though is the US intentionally wants a deficit of doctors because they cost a lot! The medical system is for-profit so there isn't an incentive to have a surplus or at least enough to meet demand. Also, the proliferation of nurses taking over physician jobs costs less to pay salaries even though there's data to suggest that they actually add to costs. Again, it's all about keeping costs low.

Hi. Thank you for great videos. Can you please do So you want to be “Doctor of Physical Therapy” video?

Im in college right now and considered various fields ain't no way im studying 10-12+ years spending Hundreds of thousands of dollar to end up making like $210,000 a year which is the average salary for a Medical doctor in 2022.

Its amazing how much worse it's become since 2011 when I had to leave the field. Saw these issues fomenting back then and no one cared. Now look at it.

Congress actually limits the amount of residency slots that can exist in US every year.

Residency is not required here in Brazil. I became a physician by 23

Its literally shit ton of reasons why America is facing a physician shortage. Like the video states, the length of education and debt are some of the reasons. And I think those 2 are the biggest limiting factors. Unless you really love medicine, there are other fields out there that are more rewarding and where you can earn more money without going into such a long training, debt, and deal with horrible American health care system.

Im a young doctor leaving the workforce. AMA hasn't done anything to make the lives of doctors any better. It's not really worth it to be a doctor in the USA

As a physician in the UK, of course you should increase the no of US physicians and tackle the shortage but to go to the extreme as the UK has would be a huge mistake. We’ve had a huge influx of overseas doctors with very low barriers to entry and our salaries are dwindling as is our negotiating power!

Your videos are always great I wonder which animation software u use

In the UK, "residency" is at least 5 years, for the shortest pathway. 2 years of foundation training and then 3 for speciality, but most speciality training is 5-8 years

The problem with physician shortages is due directly to governmental policies. Why would you think the same government that caused the problem would be able to solve the problem? The solution is less governmental involvement, not more.

Currently finishing residency in a foreing country but am a US national and was thinking about trying to apply to practice in the US, but thanks to having that dumb-ass requirement of having to be a resident AGAIN, heeeeelll no, thats something I would prefer to not repeat

Medical school in Switzerland is the same in my country . Currently in 2nd year

Who needs doctors when you can get nurses and PAs pretending to be doctors?

They are doing 3 year FM program at some medical schools.

you have to have a strong passion to help poeple to get through all that training. I like helping poeple, but couldn't bring myself to commit to that. Instead of training new doctors, now they are training more mid-levels NPs/PAs to fullfil the role to the point where there are degree mills.

It is true that the road to becoming a doctor is expensive and there's few of them but that is being compensated by the fact that paramedics and nurses have a higher scope of practice then the rest of the world and do more. Also with the addition of the PA it allows doctors to be more hands off and manage.

Wow I love the way you broke this down. Do you think increasing the salary or having benefits for students to pick a primary care speciality can help alleviate this? And if they later on want to pursue a certain speciality there is a shorter pathway to get there?

So why don't they change the policy of having a bachelor's degree first? I think this may be the major problem.

To keep it simple as Mr Crabs would say MONEY

technically incorrect on the shortest pathway, we do have 7 year bs/md programs like the one at CUNY. but obviously, that's the exception, not the norm

Why go to school for 10 years 300k debt when I make 80k a year and I went to school for 1 year. Sure in the long run I guess the doc makes more. But also I have 10 years ahead of them of making investments

Why would physician salaries decrease in the setting of a doctor shortage?

As an 'Merikan I ALWAYS need to follow the money! What role do insurance companies play in this debacle? How do they influence the hospital's policies? WHY do we require such a long training time and specifically to WHO'S benefits? The GREEDY UNIVERSITY'S ??

Add in 8 years of training minimum, finishing school with 300K+ in debt with a starting salary of about 200K for a primary care physician before taxes. That's a terrible ROI.

I knew a lot of friends in college who were very bright and decided to do nursing, Physician Assistant, and other healthcare careers instead of physicians because they wanted to make money ASAP to help out their families and/or felt guilty over burdening their family with med school debt.

High stress and 200k of debt vs a basic 4 year degree and good pay? Yeah, it's a no brainer

US actually has one of the shortest medical training pathways simply due to specialty matching as a medical student.

The biggest thing that should happen is for all colleges to be free or affordable. Like. No loans needed (or only in rare cases… and if so much less than the 500k in the us). Over all study fields. Then more disadvantaged students could also attend college.

I want to become a surgeon but I don't have the money and I don't wanna be in school till I'm 30

Most primary care is done by nurse practitioners in the us but get to charge as much as a primary doctor . Even specialities like pulmonologists have RNs who get to bill at a specialist rate and patients rarely get to see the doctor.

I don’t think there is a 3 year residency in Switzerland. Internal Medicine is 5 years for example.

The issue or shortage of doctors in Uganda is something we greatly face. But what's funny, on the one hand there is a shortage of doctors then on the other hand there are doctors who are unemployed

we could use a lot more nurse practitioners and physican's assistants which would be a lot cheaper And all those foreign doctors who want to come here might be able to retool for such programs if they cannot get into residencies.

Does this suggest that were those obstacles removed, the desire to be a doctor is big enough to fill the shortages?

It's absurd how many problems America creates and how little is done to address them. As always, the one who will pay the heaviest for the incompetence of our politicians will be us common folk. I wish we'd place a larger importance on the health and lives of the masses rather than the excessive wealth and luxury of the few rich and powerful

who are you kidding? spot are limited to keep wages higher..also nurses are being used more as doctors in some specialties too maximize PROFITS.

Well this was fun

Please do a “So you want to be a neuroscientist”!

This video was great the only bit I would've touched on is, if done less shadily and more authentically Carib schools would be the only entities combating this shortage. Especially in the realm of creating minority physicians. I went to a carib school and ultimately chose to drop out and come back to a school in the US. I start this fall (video about it on my channel) and I couldn't be happier to leave the "IMG" boat! Good luck to the "friends" I've made!

IMGs have a lot more red tape than just the USMLEs and repeat residency. A lot, if not the majority, of residency programs have an unofficial ban on IMGs who’ve graduated more than five years prior to the time of application. Then, there’s the letters of recommendation, which are absolutely required and, again unofficially, must come from U.S. trained doctors. Then there’s the unofficial but requested U.S. clinical experience, with are basically rotations that you do at American hospitals, and observerships don’t count. One of those rotations can cost around $900/wk on the low end! And most programs require at least three months of USCE (in Florida, they all required one whole year, last I checked). And even with all of that, you’re still at a disadvantage because you simply didn’t train at an American school. And I forgot to mention that the AMA is about to impose a ban on IMGs who come from foreign medical schools which are not accredited to American standards. Only a handful of countries in the world have signed up on that. All of that applied to me, and I’m not rich, so I decided in the end to simply go through medical school again here in the U.S. (not residency, the whole bachelor’s -> med school -> residency path!). Thank goodness I’m young enough. Most IMGs simply stop practicing medicine when they move here.

There is a certain demographic being "preferred" in medical schools. This demographic when they get their MDs only practice for 3-8 years after their residencies, before leaving their careers as medical doctors. I will let the readers figure out what demographic I'm talking about.

😂 Switzerland also has too little doctors. Many come over from Germany. And most unis (where med schools are) have increased numbers. ETH has added a medicine bachelor. But still not enough Oh and residentcy can be done in EVERY hospital. (From huge university ones to tiny countryside ones….. with literally fields and farms around) So places are practically everywhere.

It has to do with the good old boy network to keep prices high. Companies post how many doctors they will accept and then schools will only accept so many students. So hospitals/companies keep the numbers low to keep prices high.

I would but I don’t want to get my first job as a doctor at the earliest age of 43

You said it’s not a simple solution. But why not add more residency slots from the 2021 consolidation act? Seems simple enough.

They're facing a big shortage while making it so hard for IMGs to work there, like I don't understand this schizophrenia lol

Is New york among the few states that allow doctors to practise medicine without obtaining the American boards ?

i come from a family of doctors and wanted to be one when i was a kid, but the length of schooling made me change my mind. why waste your 20s and not earn anything until your 30s when you can go to another field that pays just as much without the education costs, wait and risk of unhappiness? i'll go make money first and learn medicine later if i still want to. that's why the talent's going to tech and business plus my dad always complained about the pains of dealing with insurance and hospital administration... no thanks. money = choice. money first, passion later

One crazy option is to have medical students serve residency or those waiting for residency to be on the front line with family Doctors and start there before transitioning into other fields. This will help to (1) keep skills sharp while they wait for other more specialized medical career options (2) alleviate the overloaded field of family medicine, potentially branching out into under served neighbourhoods (3) greater access to a family doctor could make a bigger difference in keeping people in better health and not needing specialized care (treat anthills before they become mountains) (4😂) If you watched enough of DR. Glaucomflecken(TicToc/KZfaq channel), Family Medicine is most deserving of having a Johnathan. Even if it’s for a short while

Shortest possible in America is 9 years if u account for 6 year BS/MD programs

First and fifth reasons are the same in my country

The graph in thumbnail should have a number of administrators plotted as well... That should provide an interesting insight.

You leave out the impact of medical insurance participating doctors who must accept the meager claim payments by insurance for their services.

1997 Budget Act plays a key role in the residency cap

You ever think that residency in metropolitan areas give medical students more experience treating a more diverse population with more complicated illnesses?

Soooo, the number of years nurse practitioners train is similar to that in many European countries?! And, really, it is just as simple as training more doctors. I GUARANTEE, if you eased up on restrictions, large medical organizations with multiple hospitals would jump at the chance of placing residents at the more rural hospitals.

It’s just too expensive for me.

I hate when they make things more difficult than it’s

When there’s one of something in every strip mall, there’s no shortage.

The passage rate for medschool causing a longer training period is only true if the applicants not passing were so bad you wouldn't accept them even if no one else applied. This is not true though. Only the top 0.36, your numbers, people get chosen even if many of the ones not chosen would otherwise be qualified to be trained. The strict requirements are essentially only there because there isn't enough capacity to train everyone.

OK, in the UK, for home students with no prior degree, med school costs the standard price (£9250 a year), plus living costs, for the first four years, after that (for the remaining one or two years) no fees and you even get a bursary. There is of course a massive bottleneck in getting a medical school place at all. After graduation, unless you fail the "situational judgement test", you are all but assured of a place on the two year, and salaried, "Foundation Programme", which is rotational, and the equivalent of a double length internship. You are not assured of getting into a "residency", or a training programme leading to consultant, but you can still work in hospitals as a "house officer" after passing the Foundation Programme (I think technically after passing the first year of the Foundation Programme, as you would still have full registration with the GMC). Also, it seems much easier for international medical graduates to practice in the UK. The visa seems easy to get. They do have to do a two-part test, one a multiple choice test that can be done in many places, one an OSCE that can only be done in Manchester. But, after passing, there is no official prejudice, except that doing a non-training job, and getting your certificate signed, is much better than going straight into the training system even if eligible as more slack is allowed in non-training jobs (there after all not being any deadline).

That’s why more Physician associates like me can help out the industry more (I’m a PA-S now)