The following guidelines, based on information from health providers who have been consistently successful in recruitment, are useful in setting candidate parameters. In the interest of finding qualified physicians for their communities, healthcare executives should focus on characteristics that transcend those of age, sex, or appearance. Given the difficulty of physician recruitment today, particularly in primary care, this is lengthening some already tough odds. By refusing to consider women physicians, non-board-certified physicians, IMGs, and older doctors, health providers eliminate more than 60 percent of potential candidates before a search even begins. Healthcare executives or board members who do not acknowledge the changing face of medicine are likely to lose the numbers game. Put another way, nearly one-third of all doctors are at or near retirement age. Just under 200,000 physicians (29 percent) are 55 years old or older. Women physicians, moreover, tend to gravitate toward primary care.įinally, the profession is graying. More than 125,000 physicians (18 percent) are women, as are 40 percent of all medical students. The feminization of medicine is another fact. Clearly, the internationalization of American medicine is a fact that must be faced.
Of the 12,095 primary care residents now in their final year of training, 4,477 (37 percent) are IMGs. In addition, IMGs have swollen the ranks of medical residents in recent years. About 30 percent of pediatricians and general internal medicine practitioners are IMGs (as are 20 percent of both family and general practitioners). In primary care, where doctors are in the greatest demand, the percentage of IMGs tends to be higher. Slightly more than 400,000 physicians (60 percent) are board certified for special practices, leaving a large minority of about 267,000 physicians who are not.Ĭlose to 150,000 physicians (22 percent) are international medical graduates (IMGs). Of these, 550,448 (82 percent) are in active patient care. According to the 1994 edition of Physician Characteristics and Distribution, the American Medical Association's annual review of doctor demographics, there are now 670,336 physicians in the United States. Today, physicians are likely to be female, foreign born, and over 55.Ī brief look at the numbers tells the story. The medical profession no longer has a generous supply of eager, young Dr.
What makes the problem worse is changing physician demographics. And problematic parameters may be the most common reason why many physician search efforts are doomed to failure. The point is that exclusionary parameters are set.
But clients find ways to skirt the law, perhaps rejecting one candidate because he has received his medical training in a foreign country, rejecting another because she is not certified for specialized practices. Of course, it is illegal for prospective employers to exclude job candidates because of their age, gender, race, or ethnicity. trained, under 45, blond haired, and blue eyed.Ĭlient insistence on exclusionary candidate parameters is a challenge physician recruiters deal with daily. One is the lingering belief of some hospital and health network administrators that the only acceptable physician candidates are male, U.S.
Hawkins is chief executive officer, Merritt, Hawkins & Associates, a national physician search firm based in Irving, TX.Īlthough healthcare is undergoing a profound transformation, certain attitudes related to it seem set in stone.
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