The U.S. May Face a Shortage of General Surgeons

The number of general surgeons dropped 4% during the study period to a 25-year low of 16,662 in 2005. At the same time, the U.S. population grew by 29% to 292 million. The number of active general surgeons fluctuated from 17,394 in 1981 to a peak of 17,922 in 2001. The proportion of women in the profession grew to 13% in 2005 from 1% in 1981. In a sign that the trend could worsen, only one in six general surgeons were younger than 40 in 2005, compared to one in four in 1981. Fewer than one in five general surgeons practice in rural areas of the United States, and they are aging at a faster median rate than their urban counterparts. As a result, hospitals are having trouble finding replacements for retiring surgeons. The report was published ahead of print on April 24, 2008, in the online edition of Archives of Surgery.

"There is some question as to whether there will be an adequate number of general surgeons to care for an increasingly elderly population, with its attendant increased demand for surgical care,” said lead author Dr. Dana Lynge, M.D. "If you're a plastic surgeon, there aren't a lot of emergencies and you're paid up front. You're not likely to be up all night working. It's very different from a rural general surgeon who might be on call 24/7 or every other night.”

According to Dr. Lynge, a general surgeon herself, younger doctors place more value on their personal lives, making fields that require frequent and less-predictable duties -- like general surgery -- less attractive. In addition, many medical students finish school with a ‘mountain of debt', and by necessity they search for higher-paying fields.


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