Nova Southeastern University's medical school plans to expand residency programs

Nova Southeastern University's (NSU) medical school announced plans to expand its affiliated residency programs following recent Congressional legislation to increase the number of residency spots in Florida.

U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) successfully passed legislation to provide Florida with an additional 325 medical residency spots to be distributed at hospitals throughout the state. Thanks to Nelson, Florida received more residency positions than any other state.

Four of the 16 hospitals in Florida that will receive more residency spots are Broward General Medical Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah, Miami Children's Hospital in Miami, and Mt. Sinai Medical Hospital. Those hospitals are where NSU's medical school, the College of Osteopathic Medicine, has many affiliated residency programs.

Palmetto General received an additional 57 funded residency positions, and Broward General received 46 more spots, Miami Children's received 14 spots, and Mt. Sinai Medical Center received one spot.

Lasting between three to seven years, medical residencies are required training for medical school graduates to become board-certified physicians. The supply of doctors coming out of these residency programs has not kept pace with an aging population that requires more health care.

That and other factors such as the lack of residency spots throughout the nation and doctors retiring, has left the U.S. with a shortage of physicians, according to Fred Lippman, R.Ph., Ed.D., chancellor of NSU's Health Professions Division, which includes the university's medical school.

"An overwhelming number of doctors end up practicing their profession within 75 miles of where they completed their residency training," Lippman said. "This is good news for Floridians because the lack of residencies has forced many of our locally educated doctors seek residencies out of state. They often end up practicing in other states."

The efforts of Senator Nelson and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), who also helped passed the legislation, will help Florida keep its talented doctors local, which will make a huge difference in providing quality health care for our aging population and every other Floridian, Lippman said.

NSU is also looking forward to expanding its affiliated residency programs to provide more opportunities for our medical students, he said.

"The expansion of our medical residency programs will help abate the physician shortage problem in Florida," Joseph De Gaetano, D.O., M.S. Ed., associate dean for clinical curriculum and graduate medical education at NSU's medical school.