Last week, we started a discussion on, the 22nd report from the Council on Graduate Medical Education, titled; “The Role of Graduate Medical Education in the New Health Care Paradigm”
Let’s look at one of the recommendations in the report (p. 14):
Recommendation 1: GME training should be expanded in ambulatory and community sites to reflect the current and evolving practice of medicine.
Rationale: As the proportion of health care delivered in ambulatory sites increases, the percentage of GME training that occurs external to inpatient units in ambulatory sites needs to be expanded to prepare graduating physicians for medical practice. GME trainees must be provided with educational experiences in practice environments where new competencies are utilized.
Consider the practice environment of Southwest Virginia – Rural communities, high percentage of persons who are uninsured/underinsured, high percentage of persons with comorbidities, limited access to behavioral health and specialty care.
GME is responsible for upholding a social contract with the public it serves. A physician in this area must be able to do multiple things and needs a broad scope of training. Southwest Virginia is a great training area for those who want to do many things very well, not the same thing over and over.
We want to hear from you! What do YOU think could be done to make sure physicians trained in Southwest Virginia are “provided with educational experiences in practice environments where new competencies are utilized.” ?
Southwest Virginia Graduate Medical Education Consortium 