Physicians prepare for duty in military

Doctors in the Reserves and National Guard make arrangements for care of their patients, and say the disruption of their practices is a small sacrifice.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Oct. 15, 2001.

Physicians are preparing to trade in their white coats for military fatigues.

About 4,600 doctors in the Army, Navy and Air Force Reserves and National Guard were among the military personnel that President George W. Bush called upon during his first address to the nation after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

"We've been told to be ready," said emergency physician Maj. Richard N. Bradley, MD, a Texas Air National Guard member who teaches at the medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. "They can't give us any details."

At press time, physicians had not been mobilized. Instead, doctors were busy making arrangements so their practices, classrooms and laboratories could continue to function if the military needs their services elsewhere. Doctors could be asked to back-fill positions that active-duty physicians held here in the United States or they could be deployed overseas.

Doctors in the Reserves and National Guard are concerned about the families they'd leave at home, and many are worried about how they might make car payments, mortgages and meet other financial responsibilities on a military salary. They also worry about making sure their patients will be taken care of while they're gone.

For physicians at teaching universities or in large practices in urban or suburban settings, making sure their patients receive care has in many cases been a matter of asking colleagues to take over their patient load or classes.

But for those in rural settings or those who are in solo practice, the task can be a little more daunting as they scramble to find physicians who can fill in while they're gone. [...]