The Association of American Medical Colleges has released a report that provides more insight into the nation’s physician workforce.
The medical workforce is aging, more women are becoming doctors, and specialties such as sports medicine are becoming more popular.
those are some highlights new data From the Association of American Medical Colleges. AAMC’s 2022 Physicians Specialty Data Report provides a snapshot of physicians and training to become physicians in the country. AAMC he publishes a report every two years.
Here are some of the key points:
Over 55 years old
Nearly half (46.7%) of practicing physicians in the United States are over the age of 55, up from 44.9% in 2019, according to AAMC data. More than 9 out of 10 (92.4%) pulmonary physicians are over the age of 55, and 71% of those in preventive medicine are over the age of 55.
Woman
AAMC data show that women make up more than a third (37.1%) of the physician workforce, up from 30.4% in 2012. As another word of encouragement, More than half of all students in medical schools in Japan are women.
Nearly two in three (65%) pediatric physicians and more than half of obstetrics and gynecology (60.5%) and geriatrics (55.1%) physicians are women.
However, in some surgical specialties, such as neurology (9.6%), thoracic surgery (8.3%), and orthopedics (5.9%), there are very few female physicians.
Specialty goods
More doctors are working in sports medicine. Sports medicine witnessed the largest growth (42%) from 2015 to 2021, followed by pediatric anesthesia (37.7%) and interventional cardiology (32.6%).
Conversely, orthopedics decreased by 3.7%. Other specialties showing declines include radiology (down 2.4%) and general surgery (down 2.2%).
Diversity
For the first time, the AAMC report includes data on race and ethnicity, underrepresenting some minority groups.
Nearly two-thirds (63.9%) of all physicians identified as Caucasian and 20.6% identified as Asian.
Only 6.9% of physicians identified as Hispanic (regardless of race) and 5.7% identified as Black or African American. Less than 1% of them said they were American Indian or Alaska Native (0.3%) or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (0.1%).
Residents and Fellows
The specialties with the most first-year Graduate Medical Education Accreditation Council graduates were internal medicine (11,297), family medicine/general practice (4,856), and pediatrics (3,143).
In 2021, women made up 47.3% of residents and fellows in ACGME-accredited programs.
Between 2016 and 2021, sports medicine and psychiatry saw the biggest rise in first-year residents and fellows, with increases of 27% and 26% respectively.
