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For more than a decade, we have all heard the predictions of a dire shortage of physicians in critical care areas. Currently, Florida ranks 42nd out of the 50 states for Graduate Medical Education (GME) spots per 100,000 people. The impact for South Florida is potentially significant, since we know physicians very often end up practicing where they were residents. With Memorial Healthcare System now accredited with seven residency programs, I’m proud to say we’re taking steps to address the future shortage. The need for the doctors we are training is clear, especially among a population that traditionally exceeds national averages in age and growth.
The seven medical residency programs we offer include Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neurology, Psychiatry and Podiatry, with General Surgery recently being accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the Surgical Residency Review Committee. Memorial also is pursuing accreditation in Anesthesia, OB/GYN and other specialties in the near future.
While we’ve always had medical students at our six hospitals, formal residency programs enable us to expand a learning environment we feel produces the type of physicians who will positively affect the care of many. Medical residents in our program are training under the watch of an experienced faculty, many of whom are considered among the foremost innovators in their field. We also provide an insider’s perspective on the patient and family-centered care philosophy, innovative medicine, safety and service-oriented culture we feel provides a blueprint for modern medical care. Given our status as a tertiary and quaternary institution, Memorial offers a rich academic environment that has attracted some of the best medical school graduates this year, and it will continue to do so in the future.
The evolution and launch of our Graduate Medical Education program, with its seven residency programs, has transformed Memorial Healthcare System from a community-based network of hospitals to an academic medical center. This is an exciting time for us and the South Florida Community.
