Global Supply of Health Professionals

The world's need for and supply of health professionals are in flux. This article reviews the supply in relation to the demand for physicians and nurses around the world. There is a global crisis of severe shortages and marked maldistribution of health professionals that is exacerbated by three great global transitions demographic changes, epidemiologic shifts, and redistribution of the disability burden. Each of these transitions exerts a powerful force for change in health care systems, the roles of health professionals, and the design of health professional education.(1)-(5) Every country will have to respond to these global pressures for change. There are many other reasons that it is important to think globally about the education and role of health professionals.(6) The knowledge base of the profession is global ...