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blog//The Critical Need for Critical Care

By Matt Nyberg

Experts cannot accurately predict the growth and decline of a medical specialty based on mere speculations. The only solution is to lay the facts in front of us and judge for ourselves.

Eleven years ago, a committee was formed from the four major critical care societies in the United States called the Committee on Manpower for Pulmonary and Critical Care Societies (COMPACCS). This committee was formed due to the inadequacy of critical care physicians based on increasing patterns of critically ill patients. Their studies have shown that if the current shortage of physicians continues, then the issue of insufficient health care will become severe in the future.

Additional reports have shown that physicians who are formerly trained in critical care reduce the number of deaths occurring in the ICU as well as decrease the amount of health care costs. Although there is a growing trend for ICU’s to staff physicians who are board certified in critical care, a mere 4% of all ICU’s maintain the Leapfrog standard. If you are worried about finding pulmonary and critical care job opportunities, then trust the facts that there is a growing need.

In my experience helping physicians locate job opportunities within pulmonary critical care, clients are more than willing to cater to the physician’s skills. The scope of the practice is flexible depending on the expertise and passion of the physician’s subspecialty. In fact, obtaining certification in sleep medicine makes you even more desired in today’s market.

We never know what the future holds for us with the constant developments in technology and newly sophisticated procedures. What we do know is this: odds are at some point of our lives we will all need critical care.

April 7, 2006