Trained emergency room doctors are scarce in Iowa. To get proper training, Iowa medical students needed to leave the state. But a new program is changing that, and it's also keeping some young doctors from leaving the state.
University of Iowa hospitals and Clinics in will soon begin training resident physicians in the specialty of emergency medicine. It's the only program of its kind in Iowa - and for two young doctors, it's a chance to fulfill a life-long dream.
Both Travis Brownell and Joe Hawk grew up in Iowa and hope to stay here to practice medicine. A new emergency medicine residency program at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics will allow them to do that. It provides advanced training in emergency and trauma care that students used to have to get out of state.
"I think I could be happy in more than one specialty, and I think a lot of people can. But now that they have a program in emergency medicine, that is going to be outstanding. It gives me the chance to stay here and do what I want to do," says Brownell.
"I grew up on a farm, and I'm really comfortable working with and wanting to give back to the farming community - just making sure that everyone in the state of Iowa has the best health care as if they were living in any city in the nation," says Hawk.
Residents will primarily train at UI Hospitals and Clinics and will spend part of their rotation at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids. More than 80,000 emergency and trauma patients visit these hospitals every year.
"We're training residents to come out and be leaders in the community for emergency medicine - not just to be good clinicians - but to good teachers and community leaders to help enhance the condition of emergency medicine throughout the state of Iowa," says Eric Dickson, M.D., Emergency Treatment Center director.
Dickson says this new partnership is a critical step in improving emergency care for the entire state - especially for rural areas, where trained e-r physicians are not usually available.
There are only about 100 physicians trained in emergency medicine for the roughly 120 hospitals in Iowa.
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