Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

We need more doctors. International medical schools can provide them.

Richard Liebowitz, MD
Education
November 24, 2020
Share
Tweet
Share

COVID-19 has revealed once again how short our nation is of doctors.

Early in the pandemic, several governors called on retired physicians to return to the workforce. Medical schools allowed students to graduate ahead of schedule and begin working and training in hospitals. States loosened licensing restrictions to allow physicians from other locales to practice within their borders.

These temporary measures helped battle the pandemic in the short term. But they’re not a sustainable way to address the U.S. doctor shortage.

Simply put, America needs more doctors. International medical schools can safely provide them.

The pool of practicing physicians is shrinking. Over the next decade, two in five doctors will be old enough to retire. Taking care of our growing, aging population will require 139,000 additional physicians by 2033, in specialties ranging from geriatrics to surgery.

U.S. medical schools have been unable to respond to this looming increase in demand for doctors. Overall enrollment has risen just 7 percent in the past five years. In the 2019-2020 application cycle, U.S. institutions received nearly 900,000 applications but enrolled fewer than 22,000 students.

Consequently, thousands of promising U.S. students who would make excellent doctors are victims of a cruel numbers game. According to a 2019 survey from U.S. News and World Report, the average acceptance rate at 122 U.S. medical schools was just 6.7 percent.

And the odds of admission could grow even longer, as the pandemic motivates people to consider careers in medicine. “There will be a new generation of health care workers inspired by the heroes they have seen battling the COVID-19 crisis on the front lines,” said Dr. Sarah K. Wood, senior associate dean of medical education at the Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University.

International medical schools can help alleviate this educational bottleneck. Already, thousands of U.S. citizens head abroad for their medical training. And that number has been growing in recent years.

Three-quarters of students at the school I lead are U.S. citizens. Most of them return home to the United States to practice; more than 1,000 started residencies in the United States this summer.

Some international medical schools can offer an education that’s every bit as rigorous as that available at U.S. schools. Graduates of the best international schools pass the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam, which is necessary to practice in the United States, at rates equivalent to those notched by U.S. medical grads.

In fact, there’s some evidence that international medical graduates provide higher-quality care than their U.S.-educated counterparts. A 2017 study found that Medicare beneficiaries who received treatment from international medical graduates (IMGs) actually had lower mortality rates compared to U.S.-educated doctors.

IMGs also tend to work in underserved communities, where the doctor shortage is most acute. More than 40 percent of doctors in particularly poor areas are IMGs. Over one-third of physicians who work in predominantly minority neighborhoods were educated abroad. This work is especially important now, as people of color have been hit hardest by COVID-19.

ADVERTISEMENT

COVID-19 has stretched America’s physician workforce to its limit. U.S. medical schools aren’t graduating enough doctors to meet the country’s needs. International medical schools can fill the gap.

Richard Liebowitz is vice chancellor, St. George’s University. 

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

What my locums tenens experience in Maine taught me

November 24, 2020 Kevin 0
…
Next

An apology to frontline health care workers

November 24, 2020 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Medical school

Post navigation

< Previous Post
What my locums tenens experience in Maine taught me
Next Post >
An apology to frontline health care workers

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

  • The truth about Caribbean medical schools

    Jessica K. Willett, MD
  • Medical schools need to cut their cutthroat culture

    Glen Jacobs, DeD
  • Formalized mentorship as a requirement for medical schools

    Micaela Stevenson
  • What kind of extracurricular activities do medical schools look for?

    Yosepha Greenfield
  • Medical schools should improve long-term career counseling

    Akhilesh Pathipati, MD
  • Digital advances in the medical aid in dying movement

    Jennifer Lynn

More in Education

  • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

    Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo
  • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

    ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD
  • In the absence of physician mentorship, who will train the next generation of primary care clinicians?

    Kenneth Botelho, DMSc, PA-C
  • The moment I knew medicine needed more than science

    Vaishali Jha
  • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

    Ankit Jain
  • Medical students in Korea face expulsion for speaking out

    Anonymous
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
    • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

      Pamela Adelstein, MD | Physician
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Rediscovering the soul of medicine in the quiet of a Sunday morning

      Syed Ahmad Moosa, MD | Physician
    • An introduction to occupational and environmental medicine [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Does silence as a faculty retention strategy in academic medicine and health sciences work?

      Sylk Sotto, EdD, MPS, MBA | Conditions
    • Why personal responsibility is not enough in the fight against nicotine addiction

      Travis Douglass, MD | Conditions
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • Alzheimer’s and the family: Opening the conversation with children [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 1 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
    • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

      Pamela Adelstein, MD | Physician
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Rediscovering the soul of medicine in the quiet of a Sunday morning

      Syed Ahmad Moosa, MD | Physician
    • An introduction to occupational and environmental medicine [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Does silence as a faculty retention strategy in academic medicine and health sciences work?

      Sylk Sotto, EdD, MPS, MBA | Conditions
    • Why personal responsibility is not enough in the fight against nicotine addiction

      Travis Douglass, MD | Conditions
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • Alzheimer’s and the family: Opening the conversation with children [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

We need more doctors. International medical schools can provide them.
1 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...