The quality of pediatric care available to children in the United States remains a source of concern. The cost and accessibility of care, the education and training of pediatricians, and the numbers of pediatricians and other health care professionals who serve children affect the quality of care significantly.
The GMENAC (Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee) Report1 strongly suggested a coming "glut" of physicians and recommended reductions in the numbers of students in medical schools in the United States, severe restriction on the number of graduates of foreign medical schools entering practice in the United States, and reevaluation of the need to train nonphysician health care providers at current levels. More recent information confirms the GMENAC projections of a serious physician surplus.
The GMENAC recommendations are sensitive issues which affect the lives of many deeply motivated men and women who are eager to serve as physicians. It is important to note that foreign medical graduates are included among leading pediatricians in our country. Their contributions are outstanding, and some provide care in underserved The diversity of this group has enriched not only medicine but our entire culture. Unhappily, severe restrictions on the ability of those educated in medical schools overseas to establish practices in the United States would tarnish the potential of the "American Dream." Nevertheless, with a limited demand for physicians, it is also clear that, in the future, for every foreign medical graduate whose dream of medical practice in the United States is fulfilled, there will ultimately be one highly qualified United States medical graduate for whom it is denied.