S
tudents in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine will soon have the opportunity to take part in two new residency programs through the university
The college of medicine has just received initial accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
According to its website, the private nonprofit organization sets standards for U.S. graduate medical education (residency and fellowship programs that are used to train doctors in the field) for the two new programs.
“If you want to be a physician you have to go to college, then med school. When you finish, you go to internship and residencies,” said Richard D. Shih, M.D., the director of emergency medicine residency program at Florida Atlantic.
The Association of American Medical Colleges released a report last April stating that the United States will face a shortage of physicians over the next decade.
Florida Atlantic’s new residency programs have been designed with the goal to train physicians and keep them to work in the South Florida area, according to Dr. Lee A. Learman, M.D., designated institutional officer and senior associate dean for graduate medicine at FAU.
“A lot of doctors go to medical school down here, train, and then leave,” he said. “We’re creating the residency program in the medical school, because the residency program is a more important factor to who will stay in Florida.”
The college of medicine is in agreement with five local hospitals to have their medical students gain real working experiences with its two new residency programs.
The general surgery program, consisting of a six-year program, will be located at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Bethesda Hospital East in Boynton Beach, Delray Medical Center on Linton Boulevard in Delray, St. Mary’s medical center in West Palm Beach and West Boca Medical Center in Boca Raton.
The emergency medicine residency will be held at Bethesda, St. Mary’s and Delray Medical Center.
Out of a pool of 100 potential applicants, 15 will be chosen to begin training on July 1.
Joe Pye is a staff writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email Jpye2015@fau.edu or tweet him @Jpeg3189.