The changing United States physician supply: Growing proportions of female physicians and its implication for the future

As women comprise an increasing proportion of the medical profession, their particular practice characteristics will have a unique impact on medicine in comparison to their male colleagues. Nationwide the number of women physicians has tripled between 1970 and 1990, mostly due to the abandonment of quotas limiting female enrollment. Women account for 19 percent of total physicians nation wide. In 1993, they comprised 42 percent of students entering medical schools, with an additional 23 percent in residences.;The increasing number of female physicians can have various implications on the future of medicine. Overall, there will be greater competition for entering positions into medical school. Female physicians also have a tendency to choose primary care oriented fields such as internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine and psychiatry. Therefore, women will play a crucial role in easing the transition from subspecialty dominated medicine practice to one which is more oriented to general practice.