For the first time in its 120-year history, Southeast Georgia Health System
will host medical students in their rotations, says President and Chief
Executive Officer Gary R. Colberg, FACHE.
According to Colberg, the System has contracted with the Philadelphia College
of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), which has a Suwanee Georgia Campus, and
the Medical College of Georgia (MCG). The Health System will welcome the
first medical students to the System’s Brunswick Campus in February
—a husband and wife team from PCOM. “Although we’ve
long offered training to nursing students, pharmacy students, and allied
health students, this is the first time we will have medical students
train at one of our facilities,” Colberg says. “Many of our
physicians have shown an interest in teaching, and we anticipate great
success with this program.”
Colberg says the program at the Health System will be open to pre-residency
students in their third year of medical school. “We will offer a
wide-range of specialties under the guidance of our staff of knowledgeable
and experienced physicians for them to rotate through,” Colberg
says. “The program will not only benefit the students, but our Health
System and our community as well as word gets out about the top-notch
services, technologies, and programs we have right here in Coastal Georgia.”
Linda Boyd, DO, associate dean for regional campus coordination in the
MCG School of Medicine, agrees the program’s benefit will expand
beyond the students. “As we work to expand public medical education
in Georgia to help meet the critical need for physicians in our state,
the MCG School of Medicine has been fortunate to find terrific support
across all quarters,” Dr. Boyd says. “In southeast Georgia,
physicians in the Brunswick area have been phenomenal, in terms of the
number who are interested in opening their practices to medical students
and in their level of enthusiasm. We are extremely pleased to affiliate
with those physicians and with Southeast Georgia Health System to make
them our partners in this important initiative.”
H. William Craver, DO, FACOS, chair of Undergraduate Clinical Education
at PCOM, agrees. “The majority of our students are interested in
primary care, particularly family medicine. In Georgia, we are having
difficulties providing enough physicians, particularly in rural areas,”
Dr. Cravers says. “Southeast Georgia Health System has a beautiful
facility in Brunswick and has been experiencing wonderful growth. The
System is doing a great job serving the southeast area of the state. Our
hope is that our students will learn from the Health System’s excellent
medical staff by participating in this program, and they will ultimately
remain and practice in Georgia where they are needed.”