ATLANTA --- Negotiations with hospitals in Athens and Gainesville for medical-student residencies remain on pace, officials with the Medical College of Georgia told a committee of the Board of Regents on Wednesday.
The reason the college is building a satellite campus in Athens is to access more hospitals that could hire doctors as residents for the hands-on clinical experience they need since hospitals in Augusta don't have enough additional slots.
Dr. Barbara Schuster, dean of the Athens campus, told the committee she is negotiating with top officials at the hospitals and has agreed to their request to hire an assistant dean to work with them in overseeing the residency program.
Hammering out the details is expected to take some time, said Dr. Dan Rahn, the president of MCG.
"This is a particularly complicated arena because of the involvement of multiple hospitals," he said.
He said none of the hospitals is big enough to sustain a residency program by itself, so collaboration is required to make sure residents can study in all seven clinical areas of medicine spread among the three hospitals.
Albany's hospital, however, did just sign a residency agreement. The Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital has offered some training positions to MCG students for the past 12 years.
MCG's 15 full-time Athens faculty members are at work writing curricula, drafting exams and meeting with their colleagues in Augusta, according to Dr. Schuster.
The regents agreed Wednesday to request $900,000 more from the General Assembly for MCG's expansion.
Dr. Rahn said the amount of increases will be $2.5 million in the coming years until the expansion is complete.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
The reason now given as to why MCG had to expand to Athens is more resident slots. Well, son of a gun, the exact reason opponents gave when plans for the new school were brought to light. That's what's needed in Georgia to keep physcians, NOT ANOTHER MEDICAL SCHOOL. MCG has residents all over the state and could have expanded into the hospitals mentioned. A residency program does not require proximity to Augusta. The logic behind this new medical school when state employees are being furloughed is as faulty as the Obama Health Care Plan when we are trillions in debt.
Okay, Riverman says, "MCG . . . cound have expanded into the hospitals mentioned." Doctor Barbara Schuster says, ". . . hospitals in Augusta don't have enough additional slots." Could both be correct?
The reason for the Athens site appears to be shifting, but the end result is not a positive development for the CSRA. They are laying the ground work to eventually relocate important schools into that new site. Of course that can't be spoken but thats the usual course of events in such matters. The political clout in Athens is working wonders for their area; wonder what the CSRA did to theirs and why? "One Reaps what One Sows"
The CSRA put its "political clout" into a federal prison.
Hi, LL, MCG Augusta could have very easily managed a statewide program to train residents. Possibly in the same hospitals in the Athens area being mentioned in the article. MCG already trains residents in far flung areas. The question of whether the CSRA could have more residency slots is absolutely, yes. University Hospital has stonewalled on residency training for decades. They feel the pressure, start a program, then find a reason to drop it. They have sputtered with programs and dropped them more than once.
Good point, RM. It looks like professional jealousy on University Hospital's part might have led to the satellite MCG campus in Athens.
University Hospital is a maze of dark twisting tunnels with sinister operatives. The board that runs it using county money has no concept of what goes on. The staff is protective and wants to keep competition out. They certainly don't want graduate medical education there, where resident specialists may decide to stay. Every study will tell you the way to keep physicians in a state is to provide slots for graduate specialty training. Those who complete a residency program tend to want to stay where they are.