Editor's Note - October 2013

I recently attended the American Academy of Family Physicians Scientific Conference in San Diego (September 24-28, 2013) and days after I left, I was still thinking about the tagline: Real Issues, Real Answers, Real Voices. The motivation behind the motto was to help physicians remember all the reasons behind their choice to enter the field of family care.

The truth is that practicing in primary care today is a challenge. Practitioners are faced with lower reimbursements, a growing patient-to-practitioner ratio, uncertainty with pending government regulations, lack of adequate time with patients, and the rising cost to practice medicine. The top concern is the shortage of primary care practitioners within the field. It’s therefore not surprising that physicians overwhelmingly (44% of 1,066 respondents) cited the lack of balance between their work and personal life as their number one challenge.¹ But yet, the practitioners we talk to love what they do and are willing to work around these challenges in order to provide the best possible care to their patients.

We at Consultant want to hear your voice. What are the challenges you are facing in your practice? Do you have a story that might help somebody else? Or is there a topic you’d like to learn more about that we can address in a future issue of the journal or on our website at Consultant360.com? Send a note to editor @consultant360.com. We look forward to hearing from you.  

Sincerely,

Pooja Shah

Managing Editor, Consultant and Consultant360 

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Reference

1.2012 Specialty Surveys: Primary Care. Epocrates. 2012 Nov. Available at:
http://www.epocrates.com/who/media/mediaresources/statistics. Accessed September 2013.