Northwest Healthcare Introducing New Educational Initiatives
10/12/2022
TUCSON, AZ – When healthcare providers receive excellent support, patients reap the benefits. That’s why Northwest Healthcare is dedicated to helping doctors and nurses – especially those first embarking on careers in medicine – reach their fullest professional potential.
Today, we are proud to introduce two major projects designed to support and mentor the next generation of clinicians.
The first, our new Graduate Medical Education (GME) program, will expand access to medical education and transform Northwest Medical Center and Oro Valley Hospital into a community teaching hospital system.
“Our diverse, experienced faculty will guide resident physicians as they learn to manage a broad range of medical services and patient care," said Internal Medicine Program Director Kevin S. Fleming, M.D. "We look forward to supporting doctors whose impact will be felt for many generations to come."
The first GME specialty to launch will be internal medicine, with residents arriving on campus next year. Family medicine and a transitional year program will follow in 2024. Additional residencies and fellowships are being evaluated.
Northwest Healthcare’s second new project is a collaborative partnership with Jersey College of Nursing’s Hospital-Based Professional Nursing Program, which has graduated over 10,000 nurses to begin careers in their own local communities. Jersey College’s six-semester program allows students who want to become registered nurses (RNs) to earn an Associate of Science Degree in Nursing (ASN).
The Jersey College program is specially designed to support nursing students as they accomplish their educational and professional goals, and to foster a diverse nursing workforce to better serve multicultural communities, including the Tucson area.
“Jersey College and Northwest Healthcare have worked together to develop a unique nursing education experience,” said Greg Karzhevsky, chancellor of Jersey College. “From our initial meetings, the Northwest Healthcare leadership teams have shared our vision for this collaborative model of educating future nurses to care for patients in the Tucson region.”
Northwest Medical Center and Oro Valley Hospital have served as major teaching sites for years, welcoming students from many different institutions. However, this new expansion of our educational offerings – an important strategic initiative for our entire healthcare system – will go even further to advance our mission to develop the best doctors and nurses.
According to the Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), a non-profit organization that leads and serves the academic medicine community, 55.1% of AZ resident physicians who do their residency here will stay in the state.
“We take a long view regarding the future of healthcare, and we are confident that the GME and Jersey College programs will help address the shortage of primary care providers and nurses in Arizona and make a powerful impact on the future,” said Brian Sinotte, market CEO of Northwest Healthcare. “After working on both of these initiatives for more than a year, we are excited to be able to announce them to the community.”
The GME program is approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and Jersey College by the Commission of the Council on Occupational Education (COE).
For more information about GME, visit https://www.nwtucsongme.com/. For more information about Jersey College, visit jerseycollege.edu/campuses/arizona/tucson-az.
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