Carilion History: Physician Education Part 2
During the 1950s, the hospital's residency and intern programs grew. Since 1952, there had been a resident available 24 hours a day to respond to patient needs.
More manpower was needed at the hospital, which had completed a major expansion in 1956. The hospital was also undertaking major improvements in technology, especially with radiology.
By 1959, the hospital added residencies in in medicine and surgery. A full four-year residency in pathology was approved in 1960, but was dropped in 1965.
Even though the program for interns and residents was also costly—$100,000 in 1960—further incentives were provided by the hospital to encourage medical school graduates to study at Roanoke Memorial Hospital (RMH). The program added housing allowances, furnished apartments and additional benefits. In 1962, residents were provided rooms, meals, uniforms and laundry service, plus $330 a month, about twice the going rate. The effort successfully attracted top-quality medical students.
The focus on becoming a teaching hospital began with the hiring of a director of medical education and a medical director in 1967. A unique program was designed whereby physicians at RMH became instructors for residents and interns, and the program became directly affiliated with the University of Virginia. By 1971, RMH had four full-time doctors/instructors who were granted professorship appointments with UVA's medical school.
Dr. Charles Crockett, Jr., the medical director, said: "The intellectual stimulus and constant information resource that bright, young physicians bring to our attending, nursing, allied health and administrative staffs is invaluable. Residents are an essential part of patient care in that they have an understanding of recent technology and procedures. Attending physicians, in turn, have skills, experience and judgement that the young have not yet developed. So their skills are complementary to each other."
The General Practice residency (later Family Medicine) began in 1968 as a one-year program and expanded to two years in 1970. With the goal of attracting general family practice doctors into the rural areas of southwest Virginia, RMH established an extensive training program for residents and began development of family practice medical centers.
In 1971, the first family practice center was opened on Jefferson Street, only the second such facility in the state. The training program was extended to Vinton in 1974 and into Botetourt County in 1975. A fire destroyed the family practice one block from RMH that same year and was subsequently replaced with the Southeast Roanoke Family Practice Center.
A family practice was started in Craig County in 1977, and medicenters (urgent care) were established to serve the Brambleton Road area of Roanoke in 1982 and North Roanoke County in 1984.
The family medicine residency program was atypical in that separate arrangements were established away from the hospital for lifelike clinical experience. But the concept of experienced doctors training students on a full-time basis in a realistic setting appealed to residents and interns. The quality of the program drew many physicians who chose to stay in the region.
Conversely, the doctors at RMH learned from the students who were up to date on technology and medical knowledge. As the residency and intern programs were enhanced, recruiting efforts were also improved. Experienced doctors and hospital staff joined forces to personally visit medical schools to encourage residents to rotate through Roanoke.
Stay tuned for more history!
