The Baptist Health-University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Medical Education Program is now recruiting residents for two residency programs set to launch next summer in Internal Medicine and Family Medicine. 

The three-year programs, which train up to 12 residents per year in each as part of a partnership between Baptist Health and UAMS, were granted accreditation approval in October by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. 

“This collaborative effort enriches the health care scope at Baptist Health and UAMS, providing additional opportunities for education and the ability to serve more communities,” said Troy Wells, president and CEO of Baptist Health. “Those priorities fall directly in line with our organization’s mission of providing quality health education and responding to the changing needs of Arkansas residents.” 

Each residency option, mindful of the national shortage of primary care physicians, allows students to be educated by experienced, distinguished academic faculty on the Baptist Health Medical Center-North Little Rock campus. These first programs will begin resident training in July 2019.

“The Baptist Health-UAMS Medical Education Program extends our commitment to providing residents with a culture of excellence through high-quality, superior leading examples,” said Cam Patterson, M.D., M.B.A., UAMS Chancellor. “These residency training programs will be embedded in a community hospital with academic medical support that provides an environment much like the one where they will one day practice. By providing residents with a notable community training program we have a better chance of retaining them as generalists, a need prevalent in small to mid-size communities.”

Expanded teaching areas include sports medicine, women’s health, geriatrics, wound care and electives to complement each resident’s specific interest. The methods with which residents are trained will help them be life-long learners after they graduate with the skills they learn to use in residency.

Reflecting the continued vision of the Baptist Health-UAMS Accountable Care Alliance, which was announced in August 2017, the program is intended to strengthen the two institutions’ ability to improve population health and care delivery. 

For more information about the Baptist Health-UAMS Medical Education Program, including the application process, visit baptisthealth-uams-gme.org or call 501.202.4831.