CPM Spring 2020 - 4

daup h i n cm s .org

From the Editor

A Feeling of Confusion:
A LACK OF RESIDENCY POSITIONS
FOR YOUNG PHYSICIANS

T

Joseph F. Answine, MD, FASA
Central PA Medicine Editor-in-Chief

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Dauphin@pamedsoc.org

Dauphin County Medical Society
777 East Park Drive, PO Box 8820
Harrisburg, PA 17105

4

Spring 2020 Central PA Medicine

ake what I say with a grain of salt as a father with one child successfully
matching for a residency position and one not. But as I watch my child
walk through the process of not matching and not finding a position
through the supplemental match and coming away with a future uncertain,
I have become confused with the disassociation between a need - no, a cry - for
more providers to the point that we are expanding the abilities of mid-levels in
order to care for our patients and an inability of thousands of young physicians to
practice due to a lack of residency training. As I write this, we are at the peak of the
concern over the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to a cry for more physicians
to care for the infected.
In states such as Missouri and Kansas, they are using the young physicians
without residency training as so called, Assistant Physicians (not to be confused with
Physician Assistants) who practice with a collaborative agreement with a residency
trained physician similar to what we do in Pennsylvania with NPs and PAs. This
may be something for us to consider in our state.
Many of these physicians, as is very true for my child, would love to practice in
underserved areas and with the indigent population. In my child's case, he would
prefer it as he sees his greatest benefit to the world in such a position.
I think it is time to expand the practice of physicians that have passed numerous
steps of the board certification process after receiving an in-depth knowledge of the
human body, its physiology and pathology in an accredited medical school whether
by providing more residency positions or allowing them to practice temporarily until
residency positions open as Assistant Physicians in order to care for our growing
population of individuals in need of medical care.
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CPM Spring 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CPM Spring 2020
