Disconnect: “Medical students are free to choose whatever they want to go into, and the state has certain needs,” he said. “But there is no connection between the two.”

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20121124-thinly-spread-primary-care-doctors-face-surge-of-patients-from-health-law.ece

Thinly spread primary-care doctors face surge of patients from health law

By SHERRY JACOBSON

Staff Writer

sjacobson@dallasnews.com

Published: 24 November 2012 11:02 PM

Many other medical schools take a similarly passive approach to meeting the need for primary-care doctors.

“Traditional medical schools haven’t paid attention to what kinds of doctors they produce,” said Dr. Troy Feisinger, president of the statewide organization of family practitioners.

“Medical students are free to choose whatever they want to go into, and the state has certain needs,” he said. “But there is no connection between the two.”

Feisinger recommends sending medical students into rural areas for a month or two during their first year of medical school. Studies suggest such experience can influence students to consider primary care.

“We have to get them out of the big hospitals and into communities where we need doctors,” he said. “Without them, there’s going to be a huge strain on our health care system.”