The Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine has received initial accreditation for graduate medical education.
The designation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education comes a little more than a year after the college welcomed its inaugural class of students in August 2017. It allows the Spokane college to begin developing and sponsoring the council’s residency and fellowship training programs.
WSU officials say expanding graduate medical education increases the chance that students will remain in Washington to practice medicine, and offers increased opportunity to build residency programs in more communities in the eastern part of the state. Graduate medical education is the three- to seven-year phase of medical education following graduation from medical school that prepares physicians for independent practice in a medical specialty.
While about 43 percent of medical school graduates will practice in the state where they graduate, that number increases to 70 percent when they complete both their medical education and their residency in the same state.
Of the 170 council-accredited training programs in Washington, 158 are located west of the Cascades. (WSU)
