FORT HOOD, Texas - Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center graduated 11 physicians from its two residency programs and one officer in its hospital administration program Friday, June 17, at the Killeen Civic and Convention Center.
The Emergency Medicine and Family Medicine Residency Programs consist of three years of study in either specialty and allow the residents to progress to board certification eligibility.
Darnall graduates historically score in the top 10 percent nationwide of residency examinations.
A residency program graduate himself, Col. (Dr.) Steven Braverman, hospital commander, told the graduates that not only are they responsible for the medical operations piece, they also have a responsibility as an Army officer to take care of their Soldiers.
"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care,” he said. “When they know you have their backs, that's when you gain respect."
Major Gen. Carla G. Hawley-Bowland, Commanding General Northern Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, also stressed to the graduates the importance of their dual role. “You are embarking on two journeys. It won’t always be easy, but you’ll succeed if you develop a passion for what you do. You are inevitably tied to your patients. Learn to look at medicine from their view. It will make you a better physician and the memories of your patients will help you get through the low times."
Doctors enter a residency program following graduation from medical school. The programs train physicians in a variety of disciplines that are required to provide care to any patient, any time, and in any situation.
Dr. Wayne A. Schirner, Director of Medical Education and Population Health said the biggest benefit that CRDAMC and its patients receive from sponsoring residency programs is that the faculty continuously strives to remain current with the latest evidence-based medicine.
“Medical care is constantly in flux as new information is always coming out. Our faculty ensures that they stay current with the latest trends and are teaching new doctors what the best evidence reveals. This allows us to provide medical care that has been proven to provide the best results,” he said.
The Emergency Medicine Residency Program was established at Darnall in July 1980 and the first class graduated in 1982. One of three Emergency Medicine Residency Programs in the U. S. Army Graduate Medical Education System, the program was established to take the opportunity of the high volume of critically ill and injured patients who come to the busiest Emergency Room in the Army Medical Department.
“Our goal, from an Emergency Medicine perspective, is to provide excellently trained physicians who are able to provide state-of-the-art medical care to any patient, of any age, with any problem,” said Maj. Derek Linklater, CRDAMC’s Emergency Medicine Residency Program director. “That's what emergency physicians do"we're the ‘MacGyver's’ of medicine, always finding the best way to get things done for our patients.”
Particular strengths of CRDAMC's EM program, Linklater added, would include a focus on community-based emergency medicine (a large majority of emergency medicine in this country is practiced at community hospitals), top-notch didactics, a robust pediatric and obstetric population, and a sense of camaraderie and family that is impossible to duplicate in larger medical treatment facilities.
“I definitely feel I’m ready for anything. The training was the best in the country. I loved every day of the program, and taking care of Soldiers,” commented Maj. Nadia Pearson, EMRP graduate. She added that she will now pursue a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine.
Family Medicine Residency Program graduates are exposed to a broad spectrum of medical conditions seen in primary care, emphasizing continuous and comprehensive health care. Darnall accepted its first residency class for Family Medicine in June 2000.
Fort Hood and Darnall offer an ideal setting for training Family Medicine residents, according to Schirner, also an associate faculty member and Darnall’s first program director.
The residency program offers opportunities in maternity care, sports medicine, the health needs of active-duty service members, and operational/deployment medicine.
One benefit the residents receive is the opportunity for invaluable experiences in maternity care due to the large number of babies born at the hospital. CRDAMC birth rates range between 2,500 and 2,800 annually.
“I did deliver a lot of babies,” said Capt. Scott Christensen, FMRP graduate. “I’m proud to have completed the program at Darnall. I think the training was excellent, and it gave me very broad exposure to everything involved in family medicine.”
The U.S. Army-Baylor University Graduate Program in Health and Business Administration prepares its graduates, officers and civilians, to function adeptly as key staff members in complex health care environments, while providing a foundation to develop into future leaders of the federal healthcare sector. Since its start in 1947, the two-year, multi-disciplinary graduate program has grown into the only fully-accredited, graduate program for Health Care Administration in the federal system. In 2007, U.S. News & World Reports ranked the Army-Baylor Program as 11th out of 350 health administration programs in the country.
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