MEDEX—Five Years Later

To the Editor—  Initiated in 1969 at the University of Washington School of Medicine, the MEDEX system of training and deploying physician extenders into areas of need has quietly surpassed all expectations. By having practicing physicians, medical associations, and medical faculties work closely in collaboration with the programs, the concept has produced nine medical school regional training centers that are training MEDEX students for 34 states.David Lawrence (MEDEX/Northwest in Seattle) and William Wilson (MEDEX/Utah) have submitted an article for publication that describes in addition:92% of MEDEX graduates in the country are employed in full-time practice settings, most in the private sector, and 98% are in the field of medicine.Nearly 90% of MEDEX graduates are working with primary care physicians, most of whom (76%) are family physicians. Seventy percent of MEDEX graduates are employed in towns under 20,000 in size; most graduates are in towns of less than