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Will There Be a Good General Surgeon When You Need One? (Part II) Solutions and Taking Back General Surgery

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery Aims and scope

Abstract

Introduction

Multiple reports have cited the looming shortage of physicians over the next decades related to increasing demand, an aging of the population, and a stagnant level in the production of new physicians. General surgery shares in this problem, and the specialty is “stressed” by a declining workforce related to increasing specialization that leaves gaps in emergency, trauma, and rural surgical care.

Summary

The Society of Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT) Public Policy and Advocacy Committee sponsored panel discussions regarding the general surgery workforce shortage at the Digestive Disease Week 2012 and 2013 meetings. The 2012 panel focused on defining the problem. This is the summation of the series with the solutions to the general surgery workforce shortage as offered by the 2013 panel.

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Disclaimer

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors alone and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the United States Government.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Richard Smith

  2. Department of Surgery, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, USA

    Steven C. Stain

  3. Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT, USA

    David W. McFadden

  4. Department of Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

    Samuel R. G. Finlayson & Daniel B. Jones

  5. Department of Surgery, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA

    KMarie Reid-Lombardo

Authors
  1. Richard Smith
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  2. Steven C. Stain
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  3. David W. McFadden
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  4. Samuel R. G. Finlayson
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  5. Daniel B. Jones
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  6. KMarie Reid-Lombardo
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Consortia

The Public Policy & Advocacy Committee of the SSAT

Corresponding author

Correspondence to KMarie Reid-Lombardo.

Additional information

The following are members of the SSAT Public Policy Committee:

KMarie Reid Lombardo, M.D., M.S., Chair

Edward D. Auyang, M.D.

David Bentrem, M.D.

Clancy J. Clark, M.D.

Ross F. Goldberg, M.D.

Matthew M. Hutter, MD, M.P.H.

Timothy M. Iseri, M.D.

Daniel B. Jones, M.D., M.S.

Tara S. Kent, M.D., M.S.

Kui Hin Liau, M.D., FRCS

David J. Maron, M.D.

Marek Rudnicki, M.D.

Shean Satgunam, M.D.

Bruce D Schirmer, M.D.

Thomas Schnelldorfer, M.D.

Richard Smith, M.D.

Steven D. Schwaitzberg, M.D.

Daniel Tseng, M.D.

Randall S. Zuckerman, M.D.

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Smith, R., Stain, S.C., McFadden, D.W. et al. Will There Be a Good General Surgeon When You Need One? (Part II) Solutions and Taking Back General Surgery. J Gastrointest Surg 18, 1334–1342 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-014-2522-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-014-2522-4

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