This blog previously noted that the U.S. existing population of physicians is aging and reaching retirement and therefore needing replacement and hence the need to recruit physicians licensed in other countries.[1]
Not surprisingly the State of Minnesota is experiencing the same problem for physicians and nurses.[2]
“Aging is taking its toll on the [State’s] doctor ranks, causing the vacancy rate for physician jobs to increase from nearly 12% last year to almost 15%. A quarter of the physician workforce will be 65 or older in the next decade, but many doctors aren’t waiting for traditional retirement. Burnout and other factors caused the number of working physicians in Minnesota to drop by 9% last year.”
The State “needs state and federal investments to confront this trend of doctors leaving practice, which can particularly hurt smaller, rural communities. [For example,] Mayo’s hospital in New Prague, Minn., had to stop scheduling baby deliveries this year after one doctor retired and another went on leave.”
“Solutions include a $750,000 federal grant so Lakewood Hospital in Staples, Minn., can train the next generation of family medicine doctors in obstetrics. A campus of the University of Minnesota Medical School is opening in St. Cloud and taking its first class of 24 students in fall 2025.”
“Students from rural Minnesota don’t pursue physician careers as much, but the presence of a medical school will give them more opportunities and hopefully inspiration, said Dr. Jill Amsberry, a CentraCare pediatrician and assistant dean for the new medical school campus. ‘If you train students in rural Minnesota,’ she said, ‘they are much more likely to stay in rural Minnesota.’”
Minnesota nursing is experiencing the same challenge although “nursing levels are showing signs of improving in Minnesota hospitals. About 11% of nursing jobs have been vacant this year in Minnesota’s hospitals and affiliated clinics, a decline from 15% last year but an increase from 3% before the pandemic in 2019.”
To meet this nursing challenge, “Hospitals have leaned on flexible scheduling as the share of nurses working part-time has increased from 41% in 2019 to almost 49%. Rapid training programs have helped, and the Minnesota Legislature responded in the past two years with loan-forgiveness programs to make it affordable for students to pursue nursing.”
=======================
[1] Foreign Physicians Needed To Solve U.S. Doctor Shortage, dwkcommentaries.com (June 1, 2024).
[2] Olson, Nurse vacancies decline but physician shortage grows at Minnesota hospitals, StarTribine (Sept. 3, 2024).