Regional Health Command-Pacific (RHC-P), and its subordinate military treatment facilities, are an integral part of Army Medicine's training mission. Two residents in the graduate health education program at Tripler Army Medical Center perform a hyst...
(HONOLULU) (July 8, 2016) -- Army medicine has a proud tradition of supporting graduate medical education programs throughout its healthcare facilities worldwide. For decades, Army Medicine has worked to train the military healthcare team of the future through its graduate health education (GHE) program. Regional Health Command-Pacific (RHC-P), and its subordinate military treatment facilities, are an integral part of Army Medicine's training mission.
Madigan Army Medical Center (Madigan), Tacoma, Washington and Tripler Army Medical Center (Tripler), Honolulu, Hawaii, both military treatment facilities within RHC-P's area of responsibility are primary Army academic medical centers offering the GHE training platform.
"Regional Health Command-Pacific strives to train future military healthcare teams to practice state-of-the-art medicine in military treatment facilities and deployed settings around the world," states Col. Thomas Rogers, Assistant Chief of Staff, Clinical Operations, RHC-P.
"Every military treatment facility, from the largest medical center to the smallest clinic, within RHC-P's area of responsibility and throughout Army Medicine, strives to promote the health and wellness of our nation's military families. Every service provided by our medical centers is patient centered," added Rogers.
The military graduate health education programs prepare military health service leaders to champion safety, quality, innovation and research, while constantly developing and strengthening the curriculum to best prepare graduates for the evolving needs of patients and the healthcare system.
At Madigan, there is a strong tradition of faculty mentorship. Ninety-eight percent of students who enter the GHE program graduate. Madigan recently held a graduation ceremony where 112 interns, residents and fellows graduated from 34 graduate health education programs.
Overall, Madigan sponsors approximately 320 trainees, mostly active duty military personnel, and offers 35 intern, resident and fellowship programs. The Soldier trainees have military obligations as well, and many have completed at least one combat tour.
"Madigan is proud to be consistently recognized for excellence in education and research on a local, regional and national level," notes Col. Alexander Niven, Director of Medical Education and Research Division, Madigan. "Our family medicine clerkship rotation was recently selected as the best training site for medical students from the University of Washington in the five state WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) area," added Niven.
Tripler's GHE programs are no stranger to success either. Tripler is a major teaching facility, sponsoring 12 accredited physician training programs with 240 resident positions. It produces 15 percent of the Army's licensed physicians each year. The internal medicine residency program is the oldest graduate professional health education program at Tripler. It received its initial accreditation in February 1949.
Tripler also held a graduate professional health education commencement recently. At the ceremony 131 military healthcare professionals were honored. The graduating class consisted of Army officers, a U.S. Public Health Service officer as well as civilians. There were 116 physicians, four nurse anesthetists (each receiving their Doctor of Nursing Practice degree), six psychologists, two pharmacists, two health care administrators and one oral and maxillofacial surgeon who graduated.
Many of the active duty Army graduates from Tripler will move to operational assignments throughout the world, in places such as South Korea, Germany, Italy, Honduras, Alaska, the Mainland and Hawaii. Other graduates will begin additional residency training, fellowship training or start their professional careers.
Both Madigan and Tripler are an affiliated teaching facility with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). The majority of the trainees have either received a health professions scholarship or attended USUHS, and are selected competitively through a computerized match process run by the U.S. Army Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG) GME office each year.
"Tripler has enjoyed a robust program of faculty development opportunities in collaboration with the USUHS," remarked Col. Kent DeZee, Chief, Directorate of Health Education and Training, Tripler. "The collaboration provides the trainees medical education platforms, including strong clerkship opportunities, coupled with the highest quality of education; ensuring that our beneficiaries receive highly reliable care at Tripler and throughout Army Medicine facilities," added DeZee.
GHE trainees spend 1-6 years in the medical and health training programs. RHC-P's providers learn and understand the challenges of delivering the best medicine regardless of the military medical environment in which they are practicing; in a hospital or deployed in the field. The GHE programs also encourage research and innovation to advance patient care with state-of-the-art technology. RHC-P's military treatment facilities are therefore able to produce exceptional educational outcomes with customized training to ensure graduates are well prepared to care for the population of healthcare beneficiaries they serve.
"Leadership, teamwork, professionalism and resiliency are essential components to the educational environment and curriculum," explains Rogers. "We want our future providers to be well prepared to lead and collaborate both within the healthcare system and the larger military system," added Rogers.
The military GHE programs are considered part of RHC-P's brand of excellence. Beneficiaries, should and do, receive the highest quality of care from a network of multiple providers who work in a collaborative environment, always with the best interest of the beneficiary in mind.
Social Sharing