Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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Comment
Recruiting Quarterbacks: Strategies for Revitalizing Training in Primary Care Internal Medicine.
Current U. S. primary care workforce shortages and trainees' declining interest in primary care residency training, especially regarding primary care internal medicine, have many parallels with circumstances in the early 1970s, when modern adult primary care first emerged. Rediscovery of the lessons learned and the solutions developed at that time and applying them to the current situation have the potential to help engage a new generation of young physicians in the primary care mission. ⋯ Strategies for addressing the challenges of primary care practice and improving learner attitudes toward the field are discussed. The author suggests that primary care physicians should be likened to "quarterbacks" rather than "gatekeepers" or "providers" to underscore the intensity of training, level of responsibility, degree of professionalism, and amount of compensation required for this profession. The advent of multidisciplinary team practice, modern health information technology, and fundamental payment reform promises to dramatically alter the picture of primary care, restoring its standing as one of the best job descriptions in medicine.