New Allopathic Medical Schools?

[gujuDoc]

I second the thought that UCF needs a medical school. That would provide for a great distribution of med schools in Florida - Tallahassee, Gainesville, Tampa, Orlando, and Miami. UNF would also be an interesting choice for a med school since it's in Jacksonville and students could train at Shands @ Jax teaching hospital. This could potentially be more cost-effective and easier to implement than elsewhere since you will already have academic physicians in the area.

However, I think for purposes of directed training, one of the new med schools in Florida should be a DO school. From what I've read, DOs are more likely to go into primary care specialties and practice in underserved areas. Florida, as well as many other states, has a need for physicians in underserved areas. That's one of the reasons why they built the med school at FSU but I just don't see the FSU graduates fully fulfilling this need.

Florida already has a new DO school. I'd rather see a new MD school in Florida.

MD's can go into primary care too, and there are quite a few that I've seen go into various primary care fields as well. I'd rather go with a new MD school, before I go with a new DO school in Florida. Florida already got the new DO school when LECOM was built in Bradenton.

I think UCF would be a prime location.

UNF might be a good place for either Mayo School of Medicine or UF COM to create a new branch campus in a similar way to UMiami's creation of the branch at Boca Raton. Why??? Because of its affiliations to Shands and to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville making it possible for rotations and what not up there that would be affiliated with the UF program. Students could do part of their rotations at the Shands up there, and then come to Gainesville for the other part of the program.

That's how I would do things. But I think the first thing I'd do is look for a way to get UCF to get its own medical school.

I also think UCF is more optimal for a medical school because the university itself is pretty reputable in terms of research and other programs, and a medical school would help enhance its research avenues, and what not. I would also like to see a bigger expansion of their science research programs. I think UCF shows a lot of potential overall.

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[calcrew14]

UC Merced within 10 years, plan confirmed, news reported,
nice to be the first one rejected... I mean... accepted over there.

 

[tank you]

i think california needs to have at least 5 more med schools, there are just too many good applicants from the state that dont get in anywhere because of the competition...

 

[gujuDoc]

There are only six states left without an allopathic medical school...

Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Maine, Delaware

...However, Maine has an osteopathic school.

Somehow, I don't see success at Alaska in bringing about a medical school.

Can't comment on Delaware, but Montana and Idaho might be good states to try to bring in medical schools that train in primary care and what not.

 

[gujuDoc]

i think california needs to have at least 5 more med schools, there are just too many good applicants from the state that dont get in anywhere because of the competition...

The problem with Cali schools are they are all top 50 universities, hence making them harder to get into.

I think NYers have it the best, cuz they have 13 MD schools and 1 DO school.

They have Cornell, NYU, MSSM, and Columbia on the top 50 list which are as competitive as Cali schools. But they also have the whole SUNY system which make it easier for NY residents to get open spots.

Then they have schools like NYMC and Albany which are somewhere in between the SUNY's and the 4 top 50 schools in terms of level of competitiveness.

 

[Overeducated]

The problem with Cali schools are they are all top 50 universities, hence making them harder to get into.

So what we need is more Cali schools... but crappy ones! I agree.

 

[gujuDoc]

So what we need is more Cali schools... but crappy ones! I agree.

I didn't mean it that way.

I actually don't think Cali needs too many more schools, since it has 6 schools. I don't think Florida needs more schools either, just that if they do build one, that UCF would be the best place to do it.

I've stated this several months ago, but I think we need a better distribution of doctors more then we need more medical schools.

That would help alleviate the problem with lack of health care in one area vs. too many doctors in another area. But how to go about that is entirely a different matter.

 

[Teragen]

1 or 2 more cali schools couldn't hurt. An extra couple hundred spots would be nice.

 

[chaeymaey]

Texas Tech is opening a new medical school in El Paso in either in 2007 or 2008. It will be the only med school serving west Texas, which is an extremely medically underserved area.

 

[deuist]

Here's the deal with FAU: we're a branch campus of UMiami that currently only teaches first and second year students. We'll then move to Miami to start clinical rotations at Jackson Memorial Hospital for the 3rd and 4th year. For the entering class of 2007, however, FAU is expanding to a 4-year school with everything---classes and clinical rotations---occurring right here in sunny Boca Raton. During the summer of 2006, AMCAS will have a separate application for FAU. Also, secondaries for FAU and the UMiami main campus will be different. Despite the seeming independence, FAU will remain a branch campus of Miami. All of the lectures and exams will continue to be the same between the two. Also, when you graduate your diploma will say "University of Miami" no matter which campus you attended.

As far as the rest of the debates on this board:

* FIU is too poor to start a medical school. Further, it has no political backing since Miami already has one medical school.
* UCF is public school in one of the country's largest cities. It has lots of political backing.
* UNF cannot use Shands@Jax for a hospital because UF already does training there. And yes, UF does have a contract with Shands. I don't know about Mayo, however.

A big problem is that the state is already stretched on what it can spend and recently blew its Christmas money on getting Scripps Research Institute to come to Florida. We might have to wait another five years to see if the state can come up with a plan to create more MD's.


P.S. Given that only 60% of physicians go to residency and practice medicine, I think a better solution comes from (1) adding more residencies and (2) screening applicants to select students who genuinely want to practice medicine, and not become researchers, managers, consultants, TV personalities, etc...

 

[deuist]

I've stated this several months ago, but I think we need a better distribution of doctors more then we need more medical schools.

What we need is more PA and nurse practitioners to take over the role of primary care. We also need PhD psychologists to become licensed to distribute drugs. Several states and the military already have programs which allow psychs to practice as mini-shrinks. Now if only the federal government would follow suit.

 

[tank you]

What we need is more PA and nurse practitioners to take over the role of primary care. We also need PhD psychologists to become licensed to distribute drugs. Several states and the military already have programs which allow psychs to practice as mini-shrinks. Now if only the federal government would follow suit.

just wondering, how would the psychologists compensate for the lack of training/experience/knowledge that psychiatrists have?

 

[deuist]

just wondering, how would the psychologists compensate for the lack of training/experience/knowledge that psychiatrists have?

The current method used by New Mexico is that psychologists have to go through 450 hours of classroom education and 80 hours of practicum work. In addition, they must prescribe under the guidance of a physician, much like PA's and nurse practitioners already do. See this article for more information about New Mexico.

 

[tank you]

The current method used by New Mexico is that psychologists have to go through 450 hours of classroom education and 80 hours of practicum work. In addition, they must prescribe under the guidance of a physician, much like PA's and nurse practitioners already do. See this article for more information about New Mexico.

i dont know, that sounds risque.

 

[bwells46]

Florida already has a new DO school. I'd rather see a new MD school in Florida.

MD's can go into primary care too, and there are quite a few that I've seen go into various primary care fields as well. I'd rather go with a new MD school, before I go with a new DO school in Florida.

Any particular reason other than you want to go to an MD school?

You know, DOs are every bit as good as MDs. But, I can see your point. I would rather go to an allopathic medical school. After all, the letters after my name all start with M so I don't want to mess up the trend.