Demographic Representation in the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery: Civilian Trends and Comparisons

For officers in Navy Medicine, this paper provides demographic representation baselines derived from the US population, the civilian medical labor force, and the potential patient pool. Focusing on the civilian labor force, it identifies three demographic trends that are affecting and will affect representation in Navy Medicine: The civilian equivalents of Navy Medicine’s officer corps are aging and becoming increasingly female and increasingly foreign. To become more representative of the population, Navy Medicine can pursue two strategic directions simultaneously: it can expand its share of the existing recruiting pool and/or it can expand the recruiting pool.