Fewer medical students deciding to go into primary care

Only 2 percent of medical students say they are planning a career as primary-care doctors, as the demanding lifestyle and comparatively low salaries turn off prospective physicians in the U.S., researchers said.

A survey of 1,177 medical students in 2007 found just 24 wanted to practice primary care, while 23 percent were interested in internal medicine, whose subspecialties include cardiology and cancer care. The population of the U.S. is aging, and there is a dearth of physicians stepping forward to take care of older, often chronically ill patients, the researchers said.

"The United States is confronting a potential crisis in health care for older adults," said researchers led by Karen Hauer at the University of California, San Francisco. Students "reported serious reservations about the quality of life and rewards of internal medicine compared with other specialties. Unfortunately, students were discouraged by the challenges of caring for the types of patients in internal medicine."

The report in the Journal of the American Medical Association's medical school theme issue was first presented at the Society of General Internal Medicine's annual meeting in April. It was accompanied by a research letter outlining the salaries of the nation's doctors and the corresponding ease each specialty had in filling its residency spots.

Orthopedic surgeons had the highest average annual salary of $436,481 in 2007, and 94 percent of its residency positions were filled with U.S. medical school graduates. Radiologists, anesthesiologist and surgeons were the next-highest paid, with salaries ranging from $327,000 to $415,000 a year.

Family doctors, pediatricians and internal medicine physicians had the lowest pay, averaging less than $200,000 a year. Hospital residency programs for such doctors also had the hardest time filling training slots.

Family doctors fared the worst, with salaries of $185,740. Less than half of residency positions for family doctors, 42 percent, were taken by U.S. medical school graduates and 12 percent went unfilled. Internal medicine doctors made $193,162 annually.