Surge in MDs / DOs, what happens to the NPs?

[SycamoreGuy]

I read somewhere that med schools and residency programs are starting to open more seats to meet the physician shortage. I can't remember the source and so I have no idea how accurate that is. So, hypothetically if there were a surge in physicians how would that affect current and future NPs? Could a surge drastically change the NP profession?

[Lovanurse]

If this is true, I'm not sure that all of these new physicians will go into primary care. The salary is too low to pay back physician loans. That is where non-physician providers fill in the gaps.

[SycamoreGuy]

http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=772582 I found this article, not the one I read originally but along similar lines. I also know that some rural states are offering free undergraduate tuition to student who go on to medical school and agree to work in rural primary care. See here : Indiana State University:

[NerdDoc]

You've heard about the ObamaCare thing, right? If "they" were dreaming when they were talking about a physician shortage 5 years ago, they definitely aren't at this point. The percentage of med students who are even interested in primary practice is tiny ... the percentage of those that ARE who actually end up there is just as small. Regardless of the number of schools out there, that percentage isn't likely to change, perhaps even with an increase in pay.