National study of internal medicine manpower: IV. Residency and fellowship training 1977-1978 and 1978-1979.

The National Study of Internal Medicine Manpower gathered data on the number of residents in training in internal medicine and the number of fellows in subspecialty training, for 1977-1978 and for 1978-1979. In the latter period, there were 16720 residents in all years of training. The 7.2% average annual increase in the number of first-year residents during the earlier half of the 1970s slowed in 1977-1978 and 1978-1979 to 4.6% and 4.2%, respectively, reflecting a similar decline in the number of medical school graduates. The most important finding of the study is that the steep rise (10.6% per year) in the number of subspecialty fellowship trainees characteristic of the years 1972-1973 through 1976-1977 has abated. The number of fellows in subspecialty training has remained essentially constant in the past 2 years. Thus, although the number of residents continued to increase and the number of fellows remained constant, the number (and percentage) of internists in training who intend to practice general internal medicine rose.