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Doctors Beyond Borders: Data Trends and Medical Migration Dynamics from Sub-Saharan Africa to the United States

This dissertation explores three broad questions related to data, theory, and policy on medical migration from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to the United States. How many SSA-born and SSA-trained physicians are currently practicing medicine in the United States? How and why are they immigrating to the United States despite the extensive health needs in SSA? What can the United States do to mitigate the unsustainable immigration of SSA physicians? The three papers contained in this dissertation address these questions separately. The first paper uses the 2011 American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Masterfile to identify over 10,000 SSA physicians in the US physician workforce and provides a detailed descriptive analysis of their demographic characteristics and immigration patterns. The second paper examines the determinants of medical migration through in-depth interviews with migrant and non-migrant physicians from SSA. Findings from this qualitative analysis yields a complex and nuanced tapestry of factors associated with medical migration. The third paper draws insights from the two previous papers to propose a specific policy necessary in curtailing medical migration.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-11302012-193637
Date14 December 2012
CreatorsTankwanchi, Akhenaten Benjamin Siankam
ContributorsDouglas Perkins, Craig Anne Heflinger, Maury Nation, Sten Vermund
PublisherVANDERBILT
Source SetsVanderbilt University Theses
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-11302012-193637/
Rightsrestrictsix, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

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