There are fewer med students going into pediatrics. The hours are long and the reimbursement is getting worse all the time. Insurance companies are making the paper work more time consuming. Get ready because this same thing is happening to general practitioners in Internal Medicine and Family Practice and it is also starting to occur with general surgeons.

If you're in medical school, it's an unwise decision to go into primary care for a number of reasons.

My 14yr old son had an emergency appendectomy at the beginning of November. It was caught before it burst and he was back on his feet within a couple of days after a laproscopic surgery. We live in an Urban setting and the Dr. sent us to the ER as a precaution because she had a patient a few weeks earlier that didn't go on her advice and it ruptured. I almost decided to let it ride, but am very glad I didn't.

Mine ruptured when I was in the 5th grade. Was because we thought I pulled a muscle high jumping and put a heating pad on the area. Our doctor lived 30 miles away and the hospital he was allowed to work in was another 30 miles from that place. This was in rural KS in the 50's.

Our medical system has given the highest priority to senior citizens over children for decades. We spend tens of thousands extending the life of some OLD PERSON a few months while children are forced to go without vaccines or other critical care. So long as OLD PEOPLE have the most powerful lobby in Washington and so long as our medical system is socialized, children will be treated as expendable.

Thanks a lot OLD PEOPLE

Thanks a lot AARP

Do we have a overall shortage of pediatricians or do we have pockets of shortage in poor rural areas? I live in an affluent area outside of a large city and we have no shortage. In fact, they are advertising all the time to gain new patients. As long as we have for profit medicine, the service providers are going to chase the money. They will geographically go to the money and they will enter specialties that provide the money. That is human nature in a capitalistic system.

Absent totally socialized medicine, perhaps we should empower NPs and PAs to practice solo in these geographic areas that are so underserved.

In a truly capitalist system, NPs and PAs WOULD be able to practice solo.

On that note, if anyone has noticed the state of medical education, it's a travesty. Doctors spend 3-8 years in residency working up to 80 hrs per week (prior to 2003, surgery residents spent 90-110 hrs in the hospital doing work) + 4 years in medical school + 4 years getting some useless bachelor's degree.

The undergraduate prerequisites for medical school can be completed in 2 years, however most medical schools insist on their applicants having a 4-year degree, which does nothing to further the applicants' education and only adds to the debt of future doctors.