Details Category: Top Stories Published on Friday, 19 September 2014 01:00 Written by Nicholas Shanmac

Officials at Washington State University believe the time has come to pursue an independently accredited medical school at WSU Spokane, and they say Southwest Washington and WSU Vancouver are well-positioned to benefit.

Last week, the WSU Board of Regents unanimously approved a resolution directing university leadership to pursue approval for a school of medicine. That resolution came after a presentation by representatives from MGT of America a national consulting firm hired by WSU to study the feasibility of the university pursuing its own medical school.

According to MGTs report, a WSU school of medicine could help to alleviate a severe physician shortage in areas outside of the Seattle area. The University of Washington in Seattle is currently the states only public medical school, and the study contends that the number of available slots for medical students at that school hasnt kept pace with the states population. Additionally, the study revealed that 18 of 39 counties in Washington have 10 or fewer physicians per 10,000 residents, while King County has more than four times as many.

The data has been pretty compelling in talking about the need for increased physicians and how that need will continue to grow [in] Southwest Washington, said WSU Vancouver Chancellor Mel Netzhammer.

Preliminary accreditation of the school could be earned in early 2016, with a charter class of 40 students beginning in fall 2017. By the 2021-22 school year the institution could graduate 120 students per year.

Local impact

The university aims to follow a community-based medical education model where students would spend their first two years on the Spokane campus and then go into communities throughout the state for clinical training with existing care providers like PeaceHealth and Legacy Health.

Mike Worthy, chair of the Board of Regents, and Ken Roberts, acting dean of WSU, agreed that this approach is ideal for students, communities like Clark County and care providers.

The traditional medical school that would have a teaching hospital generating revenue and taking in patients competes with other medical care providers, Worthy said. With this community-based model were not competing with any medical service providers. We can partner with all of them.

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