Los Robles Health System was thrilled to welcome 32 new residents to the community at the traditional White Coat Ceremony that took place in the new Graduate Medical Education space adjacent to the hospital on Monday, June 27th.
Family, friends and hospital administration participated in the special event, which in addition to internal medicine, included anesthesiology, neurology and surgery. The talented group of 32 new residents is the second Graduate Medical Education (GME) class at Los Robles Health System and will join the 15 existing internal medicine residents. The new residents will begin July 1, 2022.
The White Coat Ceremony is a memorable event and experience for new residents as they transition from medical school to the next part of their journey to become practicing physicians. Next to a stethoscope, the physician’s white coat is seen as the most recognizable symbol of the medical profession.
The GME program at Los Robles ensures that our community has access to physicians even in an era of physician shortages. 1 in 3 physicians are older than 55 and expected to retire within the next 5-10 years. The sheer number of applicants demonstrates Los Robles Health System’s appeal to new physicians and their desire to practice medicine where they live. In fact, 70% of physicians settle down in the community in which they complete their training. This is great news for our community.
“After a very successful inaugural year, we are excited to more than double our program with the new 2022 residents,” says Natalie Mussi, CEO, Los Robles Health System. “As our program grows we continue to see unprecedented interest from graduates who want to practice in our community. Our talented physicians and staff have a lot to offer our new residents and we look forward to providing them with a strong multidisciplinary perspective that will give them the foundation to thrive in their future specialty.”
In addition to the hospital, the new residents will be doing much of their learning in the new state-of-the-art GME space consisting of a simulation lab which includes an operating and patient room. The new space is designed to train the physicians in the many scenarios they will encounter with life-like technology.
“We are beyond thrilled to offer an exceptional training environment for our incoming Residents,” says Dr. Gabriella Sherman, Chief Medical Officer of Los Robles Health System. “This new space is indeed spectacular and we are excited to welcome our new and second year residents to it. Our graduate medical education program continues to raise the bar in quality and advance all of the services we provide at Los Robles.”
The 2022 Main Residency Match® was the largest thus far, with more than 42,000 applicants, as reported by the National Resident Matching Program®, which matches fourth-year medical students with hospital and universities to find the right “match” for their residency goals. This is also the first year in which all allopathic (MD) and osteopathic (DO) applicants participated in one matching process.
ACGME is a private, non-profit organization that evaluates and accredits graduate medical education (GME) programs. Residency is the final phase of a long educational process, required for a physician to practice medicine, and is most influential in determining where a physician eventually practices.