A question of Florida medical doctor residency slots

Colleges and Universities A-Z Florida State University
1

<p>I read where the vast majority of both FSU Med and UF Med graduates attend out-of-state residency programs. Generally, where an MD does his/her residency that's where they establish a practice. </p>

<p>Why is it so difficult to establish sufficient residency programs in Florida? Why build so many med schools (first UF, then USF and FSU and now FIU and UCF med schools) at tremendous public expense (I have heard where UF Med complains now that FSU Med gets more resources, for example) when we simply ship the graduates out of state??</p>

2

<p>Looks like the feds will have to cough up money to create additional residency slots in Florida. Malpractice reform in Florida would aid in attracting more doctors to Florida too.</p>

<p>[State</a> facing shortage of residency programs | tallahassee.com | Tallahassee Democrat](<a href=“http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20091116/NEWS01/911160315/State-facing-shortage-of-residency-programs]State”>http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20091116/NEWS01/911160315/State-facing-shortage-of-residency-programs)</p>

3

<p>The new meds schools were political. Docs from the beginning said that there were not enough residency positions or teaching hospitals to support new meds schools at FSU, UCF, FIU, and FAU. There were reports generated ad nauseum from nonpolitical medical experts that said the wiser move was first to build more residency programs and then add med schools. Or at least build the two together. More Docs stay where they do their residency than where they went to med school. But it did not happen. Money started running short, then the recession. The huge new Boca Raton hospital that was going to generate new residency programs and be a teaching hospital for FAU? Gone. Boca Community hospital was going to move east and build a huge new hospital from the ground up for the UM/FAU program near the campus of FAU. It has totally been canceled. FSU designed a community based training program that eliminated residents as a source of teaching. </p>

<p>Now there is a problem. Lots of meds students graduating, and LOTS MORE to come on board via UCF, FIU and FAU, with no residency slots to accommodate them and now no money to fund new programs. The politicians got it all wrong. But they were not listening.</p>

4

<p>If the majority of freshly baked docs ALREADY leave Florida for residency slots why not cancel the FAU, FIU and UCF med schools? FSU Med was already built, but the others are not fully operational yet.</p>

5

<p>I agree, that was spoken of. But when you have your pork barrel paid for and promised, that is not going to happen. Once the cat is out of the bag… </p>

<p>Now finding the money to keep UCF and FIU and FAU functional will be tough, although UCF does have a lot of local support. And they have raised enough money to send the first class of students through with their tuition already paid for.</p>

6

<p>Med schools are enormously expensive. If UF Med is complaining that FSU Med gets more student resources than they - already - whither UCF or FIU? How can mere local support come up with tens of millions EVERY year?</p>

7

<p>It would be a lot better having way more residency slots in Florida for Florida med school grads. But even if a bunch more residencies were in Florida, what guarantees the doctors would stay in Florida after completing the residencies in Florida? I wonder what percentage of doctors who did residencies in Florida are still practicing in Florida after say 15 years. It would be really bad if lots of money was spent on creating residencies, and the doctors still left Florida. It seems there are many other reasons Florida is short of doctors. I think Florida has about the highest malpractice insurance rates in the US, that doesn’t help attract or keep doctors. Too, I think doctors are not required to have insurance and that creates even more problems. Health care in general is a can of worms that needs much improvement in many ways.</p>

8

<p>It’s a matter of density, for one thing. Large cities mean more people and more people means more hospitals, thus places like Boston, Philadelphia, New York, etc have developed large academic hospital clusters which attract the majority of young doctors. </p>

<p>They’re established programs, so it’s good from the prestige standpoint, plus they have numerous openings, so statistically you’re more likely to be matched in that area. That’s where I want to go, as do a lot of my pre-med friends. You want to be in the thick of it all and learning from the best.</p>

<p>Some of us will stay, of course, because you take what you can get.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, Florida lacks a prestigious comparable academic hospital cluster. Shands (UF), Moffitt (USF) and Jackson Memorial (UMiami) are the big draws - for the average resident, that’s about it for “known” hospitals in Florida. </p>

<p>That may seem strange. You might live in an area and notice a lot of hospitals there but it’s not just a matter of having the facility; the hospitals have to be accredited teaching hospitals, which means that their board of trustees has to approve the switch and finance the burden of transitioning from basic patient care to patient care plus operation of all the academic components. For one thing, I’m sure their insurance rates rise to new heights since they now have students performing procedures on patients. </p>

<p>As a result, the transition is simply too cost-prohibitive for smaller hospitals to the point where even Boca Raton Community Hospital, currently trying to right its financial ship, has diverted UM/FAU medical students to Bethesda Memorial (in Boynton Beach) and JFK, both of which are in the process of becoming teaching hospitals.</p>

<p>So that’s the main issue. Then there are the peripheral issues like silly Florida malpractice laws and high cost of living (particularly in South Florida).</p>

<p>In terms of the politics, it’s a long story and we probably shouldn’t waste too much time on who jumped on the bandwagon after who. I can say that ALL the universities involved said one thing (“We need more doctors”) when they meant another thing (“Give us a medical school, it will boost our academic reputation”). </p>

<p>It won’t do anything for the doctor shortage long term. It will do plenty for universities like FIU and UCF in the short term. In fact, it already has.</p>