Washington State University Tuesday launched a pediatric residency in Spokane, the first program of its kind on the East side of the state.
Dr. Christian Rocholl, a pediatric emergency physician at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital and director of the new residency, said it will be a key piece to increasing the region’s healthcare workforce.
“In medical training, most physicians actually stay and work where they did their residency,” he said. “There's definitely data that shows that. For example, there's a children's hospital in South Dakota that just opened, more than half of the residents that trained in that area stayed there locally. So, we know that a residency program will increase the number of providers.”
The residency, the third launched since the university opened its medical college, is a partnership between Providence Healthcare System and WSU, as well as the community Cancer Fund, Premera Blue Cross, Providence INWA Foundation donors and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
WSU President Kirk Schulz said Eastern Washington needs more healthcare providers, and is hoping the university can work with other healthcare systems to greatly expand its capacity to train new doctors. He said his goal is 500 residency students by 2035.
“Is it an ambitious, audacious goal, absolutely,” he said, “but if we're going to really reform healthcare in the Pacific Northwest and the state of Washington, these are the types of things we need to be doing, and we need to be doing them together. How are we going to do that? We're going to do it the same way we did this one, partnerships with our healthcare providers, philanthropy and our community all coming together around a need.”
The new pediatric program’s inaugural class will be six students, and the entire program will eventually train eighteen students at a time. Washington State University has also launched a family medicine residency in Pullman, and an internal medicine residency in Everett. The residency will accept its first class next year.
