As the Alpert Medical School prepares to make its transition to the Jewelry District, we are pleased to see that it is looking to make other expansions as well. Thanks to a generous grant of over $87,000 from the Rhode Island Foundation, the Med School is capable of funding new initiatives to get students interested in pursuing primary health care.
Particularly as last year's national health care reform law begins to take effect, enabling more Americans to seek basic health services, the demand for primary care will increase in coming years. Unfortunately, the supply of these physicians is disconcertingly low, and those who do practice in the field tend to be overworked and underpaid. Take for instance the statistic that doctors in subspecialties can receive up to $3.5 million more than those in primary care over the course of a 40-year career. It's not hard to see why a student graduating from medical school with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt might choose a more lucrative field over a necessary one.
For a primary care physician trying to make up for both the understaffing and the stark compensation differential, taking the time — which could be spent catering to patients — to mentor current medical students can be costly. This is precisely why the Rhode Island Foundation's grant to reward primary care mentors is so crucial: It not only aids physicians, but also provides students with the exposure they would need early in their career to form a personal connection with the field of primary care.
The Rhode Island Foundation has also helped to fund loan forgiveness for students planning to practice primary care in the state. There are national counterparts to this fund that repay medical tuition in exchange for a few years of medical service in rural settings and the military, so those considering primary care are not left without financial options.
Students at elite private institutions are more likely to specialize, often because of conceptions about prestige, which may be related to the pay discrepancy. Though Brown prides itself on producing socially conscious graduates, the statistics don't always separate us from other, similar schools. We still believe that medical students at Brown can benefit from more experience providing basic health care. If possible, we hope many of these opportunities include serving rural and underserved populations.
At a time when health care spending in the United States is unsustainably high, even surpassing that of most other Western nations, the importance of dedicated and well-trained doctors in primary care cannot be overstated. Providing preventative care is far less costly than dealing with acute conditions that arise from years of poorly managed health. We urge both medical students and pre-med undergraduate students to keep this in mind as they progress in their careers in medicine.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
