7. General Surgery
There will be a deficit of 41,000 general surgeons by 2025, which accounts for 33% of the total physician shortage in the future. The shortfall of general surgeons is especially evident in rural and underserved communities. Different solutions have been proposed but none has given desired results so far. Currently, there are 25,243 general surgeons in the US and over the past 20 years their number has been static despite population rise. According to Medscape, average salary of general surgeons is $322,000, and the majority of these specialists think they are not fairly compensated. Moreover, many general surgeons are not satisfied with their career – one-third say they would not choose surgery again while more than a half would not recommend the specialty to their children.
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