Status of the medical oncology workforce. The American Society of Clinical Oncology.

PURPOSE A survey was designed to determine accurately the number of full-time equivalent medical oncologists in the United States, to determine how medical oncologists in different work settings divide their professional activities, and to determine whether medical oncology represents a primary care specialty in the minds of practicing oncologists. METHODS A questionnaire was mailed to the 4,239 members of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) who identified themselves as medical oncologists or hematologists/oncologists and were current residents of the United States. Follow-up letters, which included a second copy of the questionnaire, were sent to nonresponders. A third mailing, followed by a telephone reminder, was sent to a randomly selected subset of 300 nonresponders to be certain that the initial responders were similar in practice patterns and attitudes to those individuals who had not initially completed the survey. RESULTS A total of 2,540 physicians responded to the first mailing and an additional 187 to the second (64% response rate); a further 196 individuals who were directly contacted completed the survey document. Practitioners appear to see 160 to 200 di