Innovation in education looks to cure doctor shortage
Arizona has a serious doctor shortage. The state is a
“Designated Health Professional Shortage Area” and according to the
latest numbers from the Health Resources & Services Administration,
the department that makes these designations, slightly less than half of
Arizona’s primary care health professional needs are met.
Video by Jesse A. Millard
Since only 49 percent of the state’s needs are met,
Arizona residents, particularly those in the rural parts of the state,
are subject to long wait times for regular checkups because of the
doctor shortage.
Arizona needs to add 520 physicians in order to lose its
“shortage” designation. These doctors won’t appear out of thin air, but
Arizona does have a great pool to reel new doctors from — its growing
medical schools.
Midwestern University’s Arizona campus in Glendale sees an
estimated 40 percent of its graduates residing and practicing in
Arizona, says Dr. Kathleen H. Goeppinger, president and CEO of
Midwestern University.
The University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix
offers a pipeline to local communities. The efforts include Saturday
Scrubs and Summer Scrubs, where those interested in the medical field
are welcomed into simulation labs to watch students care for mannequins —
or faux patients. The hope is the program will spark the interest in
those considering a career in the medical field.
And Mayo Clinic welcomed its first class of about 50
students to the Valley this year, making Arizona the third state to
receive a Mayo Medical school, behind Minnesota and Florida.
The Mayo Clinic School of Medicine has
created a curriculum that is designed to not only teach students how to
do certain medical procedures, but also teach them the ins and outs of
the healthcare delivery system.
“We want to prepare physicians to meet the needs and
challenges of the healthcare system,” says Michele Halyard, MD, dean of
the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine’s Arizona campus. “We are hoping that
many of the students will wind up staying in Arizona for their
residency and ultimately becoming a physician within the Arizona
community.”
Class act
In late September, several medical groups in the state
formed an alliance that will work to increase the number of doctors and
healthcare professionals in Arizona and ease the doctor shortage.
Maricopa Integrated Health System, Creighton University
School of Medicine, Dignity Health’s St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical
Center and District Medical Group will work together as the Creighton
University Arizona Health Education Alliance to expand Arizona’s
offerings of healthcare education programs.
“With this alliance, we have the opportunity to continue
to strengthen Arizona’s reputation as the home of some of the best
medicine in the nation,” says Patty White, president and CEO of St.
Joseph’s. “The affiliation will enable us to increase the numbers of
doctors and other healthcare professionals who will want to make Arizona
their home.”
Arizona is also on the cutting edge of medical education,
training and creating doctors who will be prepared to deliver care in a
modern healthcare setting.
This is being done through various medical simulation
centers in the state. Simulation is still fairly new in medical training
and preparation. However, many medical schools across Arizona are
adopting this new practice in hopes of producing better trained
physicians.
Simulation centers vary from facility to facility, but
they typically involve mannequins that enable students, practitioners
and residents to learn how to deal with many different aspects of
medical care and treatment.
Innovation abounds
The Banner Simulation Medical Center’s 55,000-square-foot
simulation center is one of the largest simulation centers in Arizona,
where trainees can fully experience a hospital-like atmosphere.
The center is nestled in a decommissioned, hospital where
students can immerse themselves in simulations at an intensive care
unit, surgery center, operating rooms and training labs. Students learn
how to take blood samples, utilize proper sanitary measures and more,
says Karen Josey, senior director of simulation at Banner Health.
“Simulation is all about patient safety,” Josey says.
“Simulation goes from simple training such as putting in an IV, to the
more complex tasks and scenarios, such as a chest tube insertion.”
The center also offers a day in the life of a nurse, where
students are assigned a number of patients that they must watch,
prioritize and care for throughout the day. This is followed by hours of
debriefing on what needs to be improved and what was done correctly.
The University of Arizona currently has two simulation
labs. One located in Tucson — which will open in May of 2018 — and one
in Phoenix.
The Phoenix simulation center consists of three wings, 14
hospital rooms, two surgical stations, nine debriefing rooms, six onsite
training rooms, three scrub sinks, ultrasound machines, 3-D models of
the brain and eyes and a virtual reality simulation.
All of this is in hopes of accomplishing the UA’s “mission
of providing the best training to students, residents and fellows, but
it also helps recruit and expand our pipeline of students who might
consider entering careers in medical fields,” says Guy Reed, dean of the
University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.
Midwestern University is also home to a simulation lab.
Its lab is made up of 19 exam rooms and extends to seven
veterinary-based exam rooms. Also, there’s an ICU, emergency/trauma
room, a pediatric floor, maternal fetal simulator, operating rooms and
more.
Arizona is filled with simulation labs, including two more
with Mayo Clinic. Mayo’s facility contains about six fully equipped
exam rooms that are identical to those in the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center,
and another simulation center within its hospital.
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