Medical Students Celebrate Innovations in Primary Care

PRLog (Press Release) - Oct. 10, 2011 - Reston, Va.— The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the nation’s oldest and largest, independent association for physicians-in-training, and co-sponsor Primary Care Progress (PCP), a grassroots non-profit association, announce the start of National Primary Care Week (NPCW), October 10 – 14, 2011. National Primary Care Week is an annual event to highlight the importance of primary care and bring health care professionals together to discuss and learn about generalist and interdisciplinary health care, particularly its impact on and importance to underserved populations.

The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the U.S. will need 45,000 more primary care physicians by 2020 to treat the millions of newly insured under health care reform law. “The shortage of primary care physicians has reached critical proportions,” said Danielle Salovich, AMSA’s national president. “We hope by partnering with Primary Care Progress, we can reach more medical students, expose them to new models of care delivery, inspire mentors and encourage them to pursue careers in primary care.”

PCP's Dr. Andrew Morris-Singer says the challenges facing primary care will demand collaborative action. "Through this unique partnership between PCP's grassroots network of clinicians, students and advocates and AMSA's large reach within medical schools, we've been able to ramp up the effort to spread awareness about National Primary Care Week and, more importantly, about the importance of taking primary care training and practice to a new level."

NPCW aims to focus the attention of health professional students from all disciplines on the failure of the health care system to provide equal, high quality health care to all individuals, regardless of ethnicity, race and other factors, and to provide students with the tools to address these inequalities.

For more on NPCW, visit http://www.amsa.org/AMSA/Homepage/Events/NPCW.aspx or http://primarycareprogress.org/programs/npcw/.




About the American Medical Student Association
AMSA is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States. Founded in 1950, AMSA is a student-governed, non-profit organization committed to representing the concerns of physicians-in-training. To learn more about AMSA, our strategic priorities, or joining the organization, please visit us online at www.amsa.org.

About Primary Care Progress
Primary Care Progress engages local communities to promote primary care, inspire innovation in care delivery, and develop the next generation of primary care leaders. For more about PCP, please visit us at www.primarycareprogress.org.

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The American Medical Student Association is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States. Founded in 1950, AMSA makes medicine a better place for students, patients and communities.