Medical education is undergoing a renaissance in the Inland Northwest.
For years, the University of Washington controlled medical education opportunities in the five-state region consisting of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. It had the only med school in the region, allowing first-year students from those states to study close to home before recalling them to Seattle.
Now, Washington State University — focused on Washington students — has its own medical school with its second class about to start in August. The privately-funded Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine in Meridian will welcome its first class in September.
But medical school is only half of the doctor training equation. The other half is the mandatory post-graduate training, known as residency, which is required before doctors can practice on their own. Many believe it is the more important factor in determining whether doctors will stay in the region after their training is complete.
The UW operates a wide range of residency programs. WSU is now getting into the action. Two weeks ago, its Board of Regents endorsed a recommendation by College of Medicine Founding Dean John Tomkowiak to allow the university to pursue its own residency programs.
“It’s really a continuation of the mission that we’re on to train future health care providers to meet the needs of the state, particularly in rural and underserved areas. And what we know for a physician is that many of them will end up practicing within about 100-mile radius of where they finish their residency. That number is increased by if they also do their medical school within the state," Tomkowiak said. "So we have the first part of that equation with the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and now we need to build the second part, which is the residency programs associated with the college.”
Now, one Idaho state senator is calling on her state to expand its residency opportunities.
Idaho has several programs, mostly in the southern part of the state; there’s also a family medicine residency in Coeur d’Alene. Sen. Michelle Stennett (D-Ketchum), who represents south central Idaho, thinks more programs, especially in rural hospitals, will help to attract more doctors to the Gem State.
