Health Highlights: Sept. 10, 2008

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors ofHealthDay:

Few U.S. Medical Students Plan to Work in Primary Care

Hard work and lower salaries may be among the reasons why only 2 percent of graduating medical students in the United States plan to work in primary care internal medicine, according to a survey of almost 1,200 fourth-year students at 11 medical schools.

A similar survey conducted in 1990 found that 9 percent of graduating medical students planned to go into primary care internal medicine. The new survey indicates that more medical students, many burdened with large debts, are deciding to go into higher-paying medical specialties, theAssociated Pressreported.

The findings were published Wednesday in theJournal of the American Medical Association.

A related study in the same issue of the journal suggests that graduates from international medical schools are filling the primary care gap in the United States, theAPreported.

Compared to 2002, there were 2,600 fewer U.S. doctors training in primary care specialties in 2007, but nearly 3,300 more foreign medical school graduates pursuing careers in primary care field such as family medicine, pediatrics and internal medicine.

"Primary care is holding steady but only because of international medical school graduates. And holding steady in numbers is probably not sufficient when the population is growing and aging," said study co-author Edward Salsburg, of the Association of American Medical Colleges, theAPreported.

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Chronically Ill Children Want More Say in Treatment

Children with chronic illnesses often feel left out of medical decisions and want more say in their treatment, including learning how to talk to doctors, says a researcher who interviewed children ages 7 to 11 at Alberta Children's Hospital in Canada.

"What these children are saying is that it's not that they would be making the decision alone. But it's showing them and role-modeling for them and inviting them to have a voice at the table because it is their body," Andrea Pritchard toldCBC News.