OHSU missions personified in GME trainees

OHSU welcomes 262 new house officers, 22 of whom are School of Medicine graduates

July 14, 2015
Ophthalmology residents 2015Summer is a vivid reminder of what makes OHSU unique. As Oregon’s only public academic health center, the institution is also the state’s largest provider of graduate medical education training. The education, patient care and research missions of OHSU are personified through the 262 new house officers who joined OHSU this month.

The new cohort of GME trainees is made up of 143 interns, 34 residents and 85 fellows. Twenty-two of these physicians-in-training earned their M.D. from the OHSU School of Medicine and matched close to home for post-graduate training. Twenty-two others join OHSU as international medical school graduates from countries such as Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Thailand. This year’s gender distribution is in line with historic trends, with 52 percent female trainees and 48 percent male trainees.

“OHSU’s new house officers are joining programs which, under the guidance of our faculty clinicians and program leaders, will equip them with the clinical care, quality improvement and leadership skills necessary to thrive as practicing physicians,” said Patrick Brunett, M.D., FACEP, associate dean for GME, OHSU School of Medicine. “We are excited to welcome them as they begin the next phase of their professional development.”

Neurosurgery residents 2015GME training programs are three to seven years long, depending on the specialty, and fellowships are typically one to three years of additional, subspecialty training.

OHSU’s 80 GME programs are highly competitive. This year, 6,953 applicants vied for 68 slots in OHSU primary care programs (pediatrics, internal medicine and family medicine). Primary care specialties along with surgery and anesthesiology continue to make up the largest group, representing more than 60 percent of new trainees. The remaining sought-after programs include dermatology, emergency medicine, neurology and pathology.

Results from a study conducted for the Association of American Medical Colleges indicate the U.S. will face a shortage of between 46,000-90,000 physicians by the year 2025. Shortages are predicted in both primary and specialty care. Increased funding for the number of GME training slots across the country is seen as one approach to a multi-pronged solution to address these workforce shortages. About half of all OHSU residents end up practicing in Oregon, an in-state retention rate that is 10th in the nation. Currently, 1/3 of all Oregon physicians completed all or part of their training at OHSU.

Emergency medicine residents 2015Meet some of OHSU’s trainees by program:

 

Top: Ophthalmology residents
Middle: Neurosurgery residents
Bottom: Emergency Medicine residents