Backed by research indicating that 60 percent of medical residents who train in Nevada remain in state to practice, the University of Nevada School of Medicine announced the opening of a new rural family medicine residency training program this summer.
After several years of pursuing a family medicine residency program in rural Nevada, the Department of Family and Community Medicine in Las Vegas announces the successful accreditation for a rural family medicine residency program in Winnemucca.
"I am delighted to announce the initial accreditation of this program that is in collaboration with the Las Vegas family medicine department and Humboldt General Hospital in Winnemucca. This is truly an achievement of momentous proportions and a great example of the statewide nature of the school," said Miriam Bar-on, M.D., associate dean for graduate medical education.
Elissa Palmer, M.D., chair of the Las Vegas family medicine department, credits the team effort among School of Medicine leadership, her department, the administration and staff of Humboldt General Hospital and community doctors in Winnemucca for the program's accreditation success with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medicine Education.
"Our vision has been to increase access to health care for the people of Nevada and produce family medicine physicians for our state," Palmer said. "Having a rural residency program will help do this while creating a training program that can be replicated in other rural communities."
Brad Granath, M.D., site director for the rural residency program at Humboldt General Hospital, said the need for a rural training model stems from the inability of the traditional family medicine residency model to produce doctors who are suited to practice in a rural setting, without convenient access to specialists commonly found in the metropolitan medical setting.
"Family doctors trained in the traditional manner become dependent on having a specialist immediately available to handle every problem," he explained, adding that this convenience is not possible in rural areas that often lack medical specialists.
The rural family medicine track model has been around for 30 years and has been dramatically more successful in training doctors for practice in a rural setting. Doctors have their first year at a metropolitan medical center getting high volume specialty training, but then spend the final two years of their residency training with rural physicians.
"We are extremely fortunate to have a strong partner in the School of Medicine to help us do the highly technical work of providing the depth of scholarship and guide us through the overwhelming complexity of applying for the credentialing of this program," Granath concluded.
According to Aron Rogers, D.O., program director of both the existing family medicine residency in Las Vegas and the new rural family medicine residency program, the three-year rural training program allows physicians to gain experience while working under the supervision of an attending physician in a rural hospital.
The rural residency program is set up in a "1-2 format" with the first year completed in common with the other family medicine residents in Las Vegas, while the second and third years are completed in the rural setting of Winnemucca. This allows for two new residents in each of the three years of the program.
Benefits of having this rural residency training program in Winnemucca include an increased number of physicians in the community, improved patient access to quality essential health care services, workforce development and training and increased opportunity for recruitment and retention of health care professionals in Winnemucca and other rural communities.
Through the School of Medicine's Nevada State Office of Rural Health, a connection was made with Humboldt General Hospital as that facility was embarking on a 35,860 square-foot expansion as part of a vision to improve delivery of care to the rural community. The expansion includes new clinic space dedicated to the rural residency.
Jim Parrish, chief executive officer at Humboldt General Hospital said they are thrilled to be a residency site.
"We embarked on this journey nearly 10 years ago, and our investment in facilities, staff and education has culminated in this very exciting program for Humboldt General Hospital and the School of Medicine," he said.
"Working with the medical school has been a joy, and because of the knowledge and insight we have received from them, we are a much-improved organization. We are proud to be one of the few Critical Access Hospitals ever selected as a residency site."[[In-content Ad]]
