INFECTIOUS-DISEASE MANPOWER IN THE UNITED-STATES - 1986 .2. CHANGES IN PRACTICE PATTERNS OVER TIME AND TRAINING NEEDS

Infectious disease-trained internal medicine physicians responding to a questionnaire survey (n = 1802) reported minor differences in time spent in patient care versus laboratory-based research whether they subsequently became practitioners or academicians. Both practitioners and academicians ranked hospital epidemiology first, followed by knowledge of hospital antibiotic policies in order of importance for new trainees to be taught. Internists with > 12 months of training in infectious diseases were divided into private practice versus academically based groups, and their distribution of time spent in various professional activities was analyzed by 5-year intervals for each cohort. These studies confirmed an increasing proportion of time spent in infectious disease-related patient care for new practitioners. Over time, patient care activities decreased and administrative activities increased in all groups. These data are important for estimating future manpower needs.