The D.C. metro area is served by multiple health organizations, which makes recruiting trained professionals harder than ever as medical advocacy groups warn of a pending physician shortage.
America must hire 39 percent more family practitioners by 2020 to meet the country’s needs, according to a report released this week by the American Academy of Family Physicians. For Maryland, that number rises to 41 percent over the next 15 years, the report concluded.
Another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported medical interns are stretched thin and risking their own safety. Interns are much more likely to injure themselves mistakenly with a needle or another possibly contaminated sharp instrument when working more than 20 consecutive hours, or at night. As much as 84 percent of medical interns reported working excessive hours, the journal reported. While a nursing shortage has made news for years, Johns Hopkins recruiters say it’s been brought somewhat under control.
“We are still challenged with all the Allied Health positions,” said Bonnie Windsor, human resources director with the Johns Hopkins Hospital Center. Professional laboratory and medical technicians are in particularly short supply,” she said.
“We’re finding ourselves going out of state for more and more of these positions, and that costs more and increases the likelihood that they aren’t going to stay.”
One such career, physical therapy, recently increased its degree requirement from four to seven years The University of Maryland Medical School is the only institution in the state offering the new degree.
