Medical schools being challenged to find training sites

(HealthDay)—Medical schools are working to find solutions to ensure their students can continue to receive clinical training in spite of the escalating shortage of training sites, according to an article published by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

A recently released report from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and other medical organizations describes the escalating shortage of clinical training sites to accommodate the increasing number of U.S. medical and other health professional students. The report was based on a survey of medical schools and nurse practitioner and physician assistant training programs.

According to the report, finding clinical training sites has become more difficult for medical, nursing practitioners, physician assistants, and osteopathic medicine students. Most respondents reported that the greatest challenges were in finding primary care training sites. More than half of respondents reported feeling pressured to pay for the training sites. To address training site shortages, many of the respondents reported having implemented nonmonetary incentives and alternative solutions, such as including night shift rotations and using community-based physician training.

"Helping teach medical students is one of the pleasures of practicing in general, and it gives me great pride to help educate students and get them excited about medicine," Aaron Garman, M.D., medical director of a federally qualified community health center in Beulah, N.D., said in a statement, according to the AAFP article.