title: [Supply and demand of clinical practice fields for training undergraduate health sciences students in Peru, 2005-2009].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the supply and demand of clinical fields for undergraduate students of Peru.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive study was considering as supply of clinical fields the total number of existing hospital beds in Peru. The demand was calculated using the total number of alumni registered in health science carrers following the clinical years or the internship. We calculated the number of beds per student and the coverage of clinical fields nationally and in some selected regions (Lima, Arequipa, La Libertad and Lambayeque).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 2009, Peru had 34,539 hospital beds, 78.5% of which pertained to the public sector and 48.4% are from Lima. We estimated that in 2008 44,032 alumni needed clinical fields, 70% from private universities, which grew 65% since 2005. The coverage of clinical fields, considering only interns from four carreers (medicine, nursery, obstetrics and dentistry) was only 31.5% at the national level. The number of beds per student oscillated between 0.5 in La Libertad to 0.82 in Lima with a national mean of 0.45.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The supply of clinical fields for teaching undergraduates is insufficient to satisfy the demand, which continues to grow because of private universities, and hence requires urgent regulation.
authors.affiliation: Sistema Metropolitano de Solidaridad, Lima, Perú. jag10pe@gmail.com
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alva
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Verastegui
authors.forename: Edgar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Velasquez
authors.forename: Reyna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pastor
authors.forename: Betsy
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moscoso
mesh_terms: D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010568:Peru