On Reflection: Healthy Investment

With talk of expansion at the University of Washington School of Medicine WWAMI medical education program in Spokane and establishment of a new doctoral degree in nurse practice at Washington State University, Eastern Washington is hoping to train more medical professionals who will remain in the region and be a catalyst for growth and support of the medical sector there.

WSU and UW Medicine are working together to gain federal and state support to help expand medical education on WSUs Riverpoint campus in Spokane. The goal is to provide a four-year degree program with enough room for 100 to 120 medical students by 2013.

Currently, the Spokane campus welcomes 20-first year students, who take basic science classes. Second-year students take classes at the UW campus in Seattle. Next year, under a two-year pilot program, medical students who spend their first year in Spokane can choose to spend their second year in Spokane as well. Twenty second-year positions will be available in each of the pilot years. Third- and fourth-year students have the option of returning to Spokane or other Eastern Washington sites to serve their clinical rotations.

The pilot program was made possible in part by grants from the Empire Health Foundation, Greater Spokane Inc. and many Spokane businesses. The universities are seeking legislative funding to continue beyond the pilot period.

As the only school to offer medical degrees in the five-state region encompassing Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idahoabbreviated as WWAMIUW Medicine struggles to provide enough doctors for each state. Health care reform, which will give many more people access to health insurance, is expected to increase demand for health care services. Employment opportunities for physicians and surgeons are expected to grow 24 percent by 2020, while Washington will need 90,000 registered nurses by 2031, up from about 67,000 today.

Meanwhile, WSUs new doctorate program in nurse practice will provide critical thinkers necessary for faculty posts, and for advanced research and administrative positions in medical care, says Allison Benjamin, a WSU spokesperson.