Enough Ophthalmologists?

In the February 2024 edition of the Journal Ophthalmology, Dr. Sean Berkowitz and colleagues published a study that showed that, by 2035, there will be quite a shortage of ophthalmologists. According to their work, “ophthalmology is projected to have the second worst rate of workforce adequacy (70%) of 38 medical and surgical specialties studied.”

This workforce deficit is likely going to be worse in rural areas such as the Southwest Minnesota community that I work in. Hopefully, we can figure out a way to treat the people we need to treat and, even more hopefully, our patients will be understanding that our wait times will probably get worse rather than better!