Addressing the Latino physician shortage

With the estimate that nearly one in three individuals in the U.S. will be Latino by 2050, advances must be made to increase the Latino physician workforce, says the authors of a commentary published in Academic Medicine. The growth in proportion of Latino medical school applicants between 2002 and 2011 was minimal, increasing from 7.3% to 7.9%. During that same period the proportion of accepted applicants increased from 6.8% to 8.4%.

The authors suggest that academic health centers work with K-12 educators and offer after-school or weekend programs to increase interest in careers in medicine. They also suggest medical schools increase recruitment efforts at institutions with large Latino student populations. 

Source: PreMedLife