Below is a transcript of our conversation with Dr. George Kikano:
David Nicholas:
I'm David Nicholas and this is Central Focus, a weekly look at research activity and innovative work from Central Michigan University students and faculty. CMU's College of Medicine was founded in 2010 with a mission to train physicians to provide care for rural and underserved populations. The progress to date has been noted in rankings from U.S. news and World Report. Dr. George Kikano, Dean of the College of Medicine, joined me in studio…
George Kikano:
The current ranking that just came out this year is based on a completely new methodology that uses objective data provided by third parties, not provided by the schools themselves. So out of the total 190 institutions that prepare physicians they included the 168 schools (that) are ranked the other 20 some schools were not ranked. And the ranking goes both ways, one for research focus in 10 schools or schools whose mission is primarily community based, give primary care underserved. Community research is part of the fabric of what we do but in this case the ranking goes around, tell you how many graduates are serving in underserved areas. So out of 168 medical schools, CMU College of Medicine ranked #43, so we are in the top quartile. And as importantly, the mission of our students coming in from underserved backgrounds, coming from Michigan, going back to serve rural areas, professional shortage areas. And half of the, I mean over half of them are staying in Primary Care.
DN:
So, another way to look at it then are (are) there areas that are still kind of on your radar; we need or we need to encourage or try to find the (the) students that can go to this place or that place where we're still seeing the overall healthcare shortages?
GK:
Actually, as a country you are facing a major shortage of physicians. Whether you look at rural and urban, even if you look at big cities, as long waiting time for me to see (if) patients so many patients who have acute issues, people have chronic issues when they have access to care, they don't have the access at the right place at the right time. They end up in the emergency room. Rural areas are much worse. If you drive between here and up north of the bridge, you have communities who have no physicians, leave alone, no specialists and smaller hospitals are getting out of business.
DN:
But when you talk about in state versus out of state where (where) our students are going, has that percentage stayed on track and do you see room for growth where an even greater percentage of our medical school graduates will remain in the area to serve specifically here?
GK:
We're being consistent here over the year. In terms of students coming from Michigan and the number of students going to primary care and matching in Michigan. In many ways we are the victim of our own success. What our students have done extremely well, they're being matched, and the matching program is a national program that applies to 190 medical schools. Are being matched with some of the top best hospitals in the country. So, our students have been very competitive. Unfortunately, the area does not have all the specialties either. CMU sponsors 8 residency programs in Saginaw, but we don't have the subspecialties. We don't have (the) orthopedics and neurosurgery, the other areas we have the basic 8 residency program. So, our students go out of town and when they're going out of state because they've been very competitive. So, the success of our students, the approach they have in terms of personality test scores, has been making them competitive with other medical schools nationally.
DN:
As we look back on the history of (of) related programs to bring this to a close, but to tie all these elements in together. As CMU had a reputation for very long time when it came to the areas of not only physical therapy, but physician assistance programs. The state of (the) those now also with the addition of the full four-year nursing program, how do these all mesh into what we've been talking about so far here?
GK:
Today, healthcare is a team sport. So, when we work, I mean, when we have a nursing program obviously with we have the College of Health Profession(s) like you mentioned, you have a (you mean) have Audiology, Physical Therapy, PA program and hopefully in the next year or two, we have a nursing program. So, students from the College of Health Profession are being trained side by side in certain cases with students in medical school. And there's lots of collaboration and linkages between faculty and both colleges.
DN:
Doctor George Kikano, thank you very much for taking the time to talk with us. We do appreciate it.
GK:
Thank you, David.
