American and Soviet Medical Manpower: Growth and Evolution,1910

Abstract

Between 1910 and 1970 the number of physicians in the United States increased 2.5 times, in Soviet Russia almost 25 times. The number of physicians per constant unit of population remained fairly stable in the United States, rising slightly in the last few years. In the U.S.S.R. that number increased 16 to 18 times, and now stands about 50 per cent higher than in the United States. About 10 per cent of American physicians are women; in the U.S.S.R. it is about 70 per cent. Neither society has resolved the problem of deploying physicians to the rural areas. American physicians are more specialized than their Soviet colleagues. The article concludes with general remarks about the two health systems, pointing out resemblances and divergences. The hypothesis of a possible “convergence” is entertained.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bryant

J. H.

Health & the Developing World. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y., 1969.

Prost

Services de santé en pays africains. Masson, Paris, 1970.

Flexner

Medical Education in the United States and Canada. A Report to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Bulletin No. 4. D. B. Updike, The Merrymount Press, Boston, 1910.

Fein

The Doctor Shortage: An Economic Diagnosis, p. 67. Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., 1967.

Williams

Quality versus quantity in American medical education. Science 153: 956–961, August 26,1966.

Field

M. G.

Soviet Socialized Medicine. Free Press, New York, 1967.

Field

M. G.

Le système de sécuritémédicale soviétique. Médecine et Hygiène 892: 1334–1337, 1969.

Field

M. G.

Pratique médicale soviétique revisitée: Cinq cas particuliers. Mèdecine et Hygiène 959: 625–630, 1971. (In English in Review of Soviet Medical Sciences 7(2): 1–12, 1970.).

Log of the Visit of the United States Delegation on Health Planning to the Soviet Union, May 16-June 3, 1970, p. 10 (mimeographed).

10.

Altman

L. K.

More students enter medicine. New York Times, p. 27, November 12, 1970.

11.

Higher Education and the Nation's Health: Policies for Medical and Dental Education. A Special Report and Recommendations by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, p. 36. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1970.

12.

Association of American Medical Colleges. DIME Dialogue–Division of International Medical Education 3(3): 1, 1970.

13.

De Witt

Education and Professional Employment in the U.S.S.R., p. 323. National Science Foundation, Washington, D. C., 1961.

14.

de Guerny

J. Chassin

Note statistique sur la démographie médicale de l'U.R.S.S. Cahiers de Sociologie et Démographie Médicales 10(1): 31–34, 1970.

15.

Bowers

J.C.

Special problems of women medical students. J. Med. Educ. 43: 532–537, May 1968.

16.

Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1970, p. 65, Table 85. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1970.

17.

Association of American Medical Colleges. Datagrams 7(8): Table 1, 1966.

18.

Situation, évolution et perspective des effective de médecins en France, et dans le pays d'Europe et aux USA, cited by Rösch

, Association Medicale Mondiale, MC/DC p. 9, note 7, March 24, 1969.

19.

Rosenlund

M. L.

Oski

F. A.

Women in medicine. Ann. Intern. Med. 66(5): 1009–1012, 1967.

20.

Field

M. G.

Health personnel in the Soviet Union: Achievements and Problems. Am. J. Public Health 56: 1904–1920, November 1966.

21.

Sidel

V. W.

Feldshers and “feldsherism.”

N. Engl. J. Med. 278: 934–992, April 25, 1968.

22.

Magraw

R. M.

Ferment in Medicine, p. 146. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia and London, 1966.

23.

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service. An Introduction to the Soviet Health Care System, p. 2. Office of International Health, Washington, D. C., August 1974.

24.

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Bureau of Health Manpower. Health Manpower Perspective: 1967, p. 5, Table 5. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1967.

25.

Miller

J. I.

Report of the National Advisory Commission on Health Manpower, Appendix 1, pp. 87–88. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1967.

American and Soviet Medical Manpower: Growth and Evolution,1910–1970

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References