We Need to Shorten Time It Takes to Become a Doctor

Slate columnist thinks 14 years is too long

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

We’re going to need more doctors in coming years, but our current system of producing them is too long and expensive, writes Brian Palmer in Slate. Factor in college, medical school, and the requisite fellowships and residencies, and the average US physician spends 14 years in training. That’s too long, writes Palmer, who argues that the last time the medical community seriously revamped its education process was more than a century ago. It was necessary then, in the wake of the Civil War when scores of poorly trained doctors were unleashed upon the masses. But times have changed.

Read more here…

http://www.newser.com/story/183788/we-need-to-shorten-time-it-takes-to-become-a-doctor.html