Primary care physicians are a key component of the healthcare reform bill, but a recent study suggests that New Jersey will need one thousand more primary care physicians over the next decade in order to keep up with patient need.
KYW 1060 news radio spoke with John P. Sheridan, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of The Cooper Health System, and Dyanne P. Westerberg, DO, Chief of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, for insight.
“The students will be dealing with patients right from day one and there will be more exposure to clinical experiences throughout the four years, not just in their third and fourth years, which is the case with most four-year medical schools now,” said Sheridan.
Speaking of the importance of time management when dealing with patient volumes, Diane Westerberg added,”I want to make sure they understand why they need to do what they need to do and, sometimes I have to say that the patient is more important, I would have to go over my allotted time.”