The dumpster fire burns on...

I'm in Park City, UT at the Infectious Diseases Winter Course, always a great review of the hot topics in ID. This morning I led a meet-the-professor breakfast session. I assumed that the discussion would revolve around topics in hospital epidemiology, but interestingly, the participants were most interested in discussing the future of Infectious Diseases as a specialty (i.e., the dumpster fire). After about 20 minutes, one participant suggested that we change topics since everyone seemed to be getting depressed.

We've previously blogged on the problems that the specialty faces, particularly the compensation issues and the dying interest in the field by physicians in training. Along these lines, there are two new papers that are worth reviewing. The first is a paper in CID that very nicely outlines the value that ID physicians add in the care of individual patients and also in population health. The second is a commentary by Dick Wenzel and myself that focuses on infectious diseases in the academic setting. Still missing, in my opinion, is a fully engaged advocacy group for ID doctors that plays an effective role in addressing our issues.

Photo: The view from my hotel room at the ID Winter Course