Identify recruitment barriers and possible solutions
Humanities
1-Most countries have a physician workforce of one-third specialists and two-thirds generalists. The ratio is the opposite in the U.S. while Americans prize high-technology care, although it admittedly and often unnecessarily drives up costs. What are some possible solutions to the shortage of primary physicians when specialists earn multiple-times more than their primary care counterparts?
2-Many physicians are educated in tax-supported medical schools and earn large proportions of their income from government subsidized programs. Do you believe that physicians should be required to recognize and respond to a broader social mission than only caring for patients who can afford their services? Does your response suggest anything about the culture of medicine and value systems of individuals selected for medical school admission?
3-Today’s not-for-profit hospitals and health systems are commonly multi-billion dollar tax-exempt organizations. What is your position on the new federal scrutiny upon, and reporting requirements for justifying the charitable missions of not-for-profit hospitals and health systems?
4-What is your opinion about employers continuing to be the primary vehicle through which Americans obtain health insurance? Is this a fair proposition for employers? Provide a rationale for your response.
5-In 1999, the Institute of medicine report, To Err is Human, generated a brief flurry of concerns about avoidable hospital deaths. While progress has been made in addressing system errors and deficiencies, it remains inconsistent across the nation’s hospitals. Fourteen years after this report, is it time for the professions, payers and the public to demand corrections of system problems in an accountable, transparent and publicly disclosed manner? What form can or should these demands take?
6-It is known that simply adding new geriatric services to a system focused on acute care will not solve the care needs of increasing numbers of the chronically ill. Given the continuing and certain increasing crisis in supply of the long-term care workforce, what are some suggestions to attract more young people into careers in custodial caregiving for the chronically ill? In your response, identify recruitment barriers and possible solutions.
