Research has shown that providers are more likely to practice as a physician in the town in which they performed their residency. With that in mind, Pullman Regional Hospital has started the process of establishing a rural residency program on the Palouse.
The hospital is working with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to establish an accredited rural residency training track for graduate medical education in family medicine with the Spokane Teaching Health Center program. Pullman’s rural residency track would be three years with the first year in Spokane and the second and third years in Pullman.
The council may decide as early April whether to accredit the program, and if the accreditation is approved, medical students applying to qualified residency programs will be matched to Providence Holy Family’s residency program with the Pullman Regional Hospital pathway in the fall of 2018. The program would begin with two residents, followed by two more residents in 2021, for a total of four.
“It is critical Pullman and the Palouse continue to have a strong medical staff of primary care physicians and specialists,” said Scott Adams, Pullman Regional Hospital CEO. “We are taking a proactive approach to build a residency program in family medicine to build the future we want for health care on the Palouse.”
Read more from Pullman Regional Hospital. (Tim Pfarr)
