Valley Hospital Begins 12th Year of Providing Graduate Medical Education

Friday, July 7, 2017
Valley Hospital Begins 12th Year of Providing Graduate Medical Education

Since 2006, Valley Hospital has offered physician residencies and fellowships for physicians-in-training after they complete medical school, known as graduate medical education. Valley Hospital has watched its physician graduates open or join private practices, work as hospitalists, continue their medical training with the military, or specialize further with fellowships (specialty training).

Beginning July 1, 2017, 28 residents and fellows started their programs in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Neurology and Orthopedic Surgery, or fellowships in Gastroenterology and Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine.

“A residency program not only trains new physicians, but it introduces them to their network of referring physicians and future patients,” said Elaine Glaser, CEO of Valley Hospital. “A report from the American Association of Medical Colleges showed that 53 percent of physicians who completed residency training from 2006 through 2015 are practicing in the state where they completed their residency program. That’s an important statistic as the local healthcare community works to recruit and retain physicians to meet Southern Nevada’s growing demand for providers.”

Statistics from Valley Hospital’s most recent graduating class include three of four graduating fellows (75 percent) are entering private practice in Las Vegas with specialties in Gastroenterology or Pulmonary/Critical Care.

Overall, 13 of 26 graduating residents and fellows (50 percent, including those mentioned above) will remain in Las Vegas to work in private practice, as hospitalists, in outpatient clinics, and with local fellowship opportunities at Valley Hospital (Gastroenterology or Pulmonary/Critical Care); Nathan Adelson Hospice (Palliative Care), and Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health (Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry).

Valley Hospital GME Graduates Accepted to Out-of-State Fellowships

The inaugural orthopedic surgery residency class features two physicians who were accepted to prominent fellowships at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina for Total Joint Adult Reconstruction and to the San Diego Spine Foundation for Spine, associated with Scripps clinics and hospitals.

Other Valley Hospital residents have been accepted to out-of-state fellowship programs in:

  • Neuro Ophthalmology at Methodist Hospital in Houston, TX;
  • Air Force Nephrology Fellowship with University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, TX;
  • Nephrology with Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles, CA (two physicians);
  • Cardiology at Medical City in Fort Worth, TX.

“I’m proud that our program has developed outstanding physicians who have been accepted to well-known fellowships,” said Glaser. “It speaks to the quality of our physician leadership, faculty and program.”