WellStar Kennestone Hospital Prepares for Residency Training

With the unanimous support of WellStar’s Clinical Council and a statement of commitment from the WellStar Health System Board of Trustees, WellStar Kennestone Hospital has begun the long and involved process of becoming an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited residency training site.

“We now have the infrastructure to support training and, more importantly, we have enthusiastic support from the medical staff at Kennestone who sees this as a great opportunity to both improve patient care and to engage those physicians who are eager to teach,” said Don Campbell, M.D., WellStar’s senior vice president for physician education and career development.

The need for increased numbers of physicians, particularly primary care physicians, is clear when looking at the aging population and the anticipated needs for wellness and prevention services found in the Accountable Care Act. The need for residency training positions has dramatically increased as medical schools across the country have increased their class size and new medical schools have opened.

Representative Tom Price, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon, noted at a recent event in Smyrna “more than 700 graduates of medical schools in the United States last year were unable to find a residency training position in this country.” Georgia is a net exporter of medical school graduates, most of who will practice near where they do their residency training outside of Georgia. Georgia’s medical schools have increased their enrollments over the past five years, yet the number of residency training positions has not kept pace with the increased class size.

“Kennestone has a broad scope of high quality services that will make it a great place for residents to train,” said Bob Lubitz, M.D., vice president, medical affairs at Kennestone. Dr. Lubitz has had extensive experience with graduate medical education in his previous role as the chief academic officer of the Ascension Health System in St. Louis, Mo. Dr. Lubitz is a member of the newly formed Graduate Medical Education Committee that was chartered in April of this year at Kennestone to begin the formation of a residency training program. An initial site visit from a representative of the ACGME occurred in early September to review the plans.

If ACGME’s New Program Committee approves the institutional application made by Kennestone, the next step will be to develop the individual programs. Programs are currently being planned in family medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology and the transitional year. The transitional year is a one-year general program that prepares physicians for specialty training in areas such as Radiology. If all deadlines are met and programs approved, Kennestone will see its first residents in July 2016. When all programs are completely staffed in 2021, there will be 70-80 residents on site at Kennestone and in primary care offices connected to Kennestone’s family practice and internal medicine programs.

As part of the ramp-up to residency training WellStar’s Student Affiliations office will increase the number of medical students who do clinical rotations at WellStar hospitals and physician practices.  If you are interested in becoming a preceptor for medical students or need more information on residency training at WellStar Kennestone Hospital, contact Dr. Don Campbell at don.campbell@wellstar.org.