There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that there continues to be a need for more doctors to fulfill the medical needs of this country. Historically, the creation of new medical programs has been extremely slow relative to the rise in population. From 1974 to 2000, only 10 schools were opened in the United States, forcing many aspiring doctors to complete their medical training abroad. Additionally, the United States has and continues to rely on foreign-trained physicians to meet our medical needs.
But all of this is changing very quickly. A handful of schools opened during the first decade of this century, but in the next two years, we can expect 7 new medical schools to open in the United States in Washington, Alabama, Indiana, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Oregon. What’s even more interesting is that all of these programs are Osteopathic Medical Schools, which reflects on the growing popularity of these programs. Often, pre medical students forget that both M.D.’s (allopathically trained) and D.O.’s (osteopathically trained) physicians are licensed in the United States, and with the shift towards more primary care physicians, the osteopathic path is a natural fit since historically, the majority of its graduates practice as a primary care physician.
But the news gets even better! Currently, there are 23 schools throughout the United States that are forming and awaiting accreditation and the split is about 50/50 between M.D. granting and D.O. granting programs. So the opportunities to study medicine in the U.S. will continue to be on the rise for current undergraduates.
Of course, the more medical school slots that open up, creates the need for more residency programs, but programs are already following suit there as well. But sometimes with growth also comes pain – these articles from California and Texas share some of the struggles that will arise if too many medical schools are established too quickly – a lack of residency programs. But for now students should focus on the good news that more programs are in their future!
