US graduate medical education, 2000-2001

For the last three quarters of a century, the American Medical Association' s national collection of graduate medical education (GME) data has evolved in its scope and methods. This year's GME survey involved new technology. T he National GME Census for 2000-2001, jointly administered by the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges, was p art of an Internet-based product called GME Track. Because of technical pro blems, data collection was less complete than in previous years. Similar to the 1999-2000 survey, we observed an increase in the number of subspecialt y programs, with 79 more than last year (2.1% increase), and a decrease in the number of specialty programs, with 40 (0.9%) fewer. Parallel to this co ntinuing trend was a decrease in the number of graduates of US medical scho ols who were matched into primary care residencies, particularly family pra ctice programs (20% decrease compared with 1996-1997). The number of gradua tes of osteopathic medical schools training in allopathic programs continue d to rise, increasing 7.9% from last year. Numbers of Hispanic and Asian gr aduates from US allopathic medical schools (USMDs) in graduate year 1 (GY1) positions increased numerically to 887 and 2356, respectively, and proport ionally by 7.2% and 17.3%, respectively. Although the number of white USMDs in GY1 positions increased, their proportion decreased slightly among thos e with known race or ethnicity from 72.2% to 71.7%, and the number of black USMD GY1 residents, numbering 859, declined from the previous year. Althou gh we observed an overall decline in the average number of on-duty hours ex pected of residents in their first year in a program (from 55 in 1996-1997 to 54 in 2000-2001; P<.001), the average number of hours reported by the ma jority of programs that typically report the most on-duty hours did not dec rease. The issues of resident work hours and the diversity and specialty di stribution of the physician workforce continue to foster debate.