GME Residency Programs-Highlights

Stories About Residents - Published in VitalSigns Magazine

Kaweah Health’s Graduate Medical Education Program began officially in 2013. The first class of physicians graduated in June of 2016 and we celebrate the fact that more than 45 percent of graduates have decided to stay and practice in the local area.

“When we set out to become a teaching hospital, one important goal was to improve this community’s access to health care by growing the next generation of physicians,” said Lindsay Mann, former Chief Executive Officer of Kaweah Health.

Since then, Kaweh Health has continued to build. The new Anesthesiology residency program welcomed their inaugural class in June of 2017. This is the sixth pipeline program that Kaweah Health has developed. Anesthesia joins Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, General Surgery, Psychiatry and Transitional Year residency programs to round out the expanding Graduate Medical Education department.

At full complement, when all programs are fully mature, Kaweah Health will be home to 121 resident physicians in training at any given time. Resident physicians are trained in quality improvement, patient safety and evidence-based medicine. They stay on top of the latest and greatest in their respective fields of practice. These physicians are an important asset to the care that is delivered at our institution.

Twenty-five percent of the matriculated residents rotated at Kaweah Health while in medical school. They learned about the community, the residency program and decided to apply for a position. This year, Kaweah Health received over 3,000 applications and will interview over 450 candidates for 46 training spots.

Studies show that around 50% of residents tend to settle within 30 miles of where they train. The choice of where to practice medicine after residency was clear, Dr. K Kamel said. “I am staying here, first, because I love Visalia, not just me, but my family as well,” he said. “Second, I would love to pay back the community that taught me and gave me the opportunity to learn and grow.”

Visalia’s central California location is among the reasons Dr. Sean Oldroyd said he is staying. “I appreciate that I can take my children camping, like I enjoyed as a kid. I love that we have access to the mountains and the beach is nearby.”

Kaweah Health is delighted that the strategic vision to embark on education is paying off. The vast majority of US residency training programs are clustered east of the Mississippi River. Training in the West is in high demand and we are fortunate to enjoy California's landscape as the setting for our programs.

For more information about GME at Kaweah Health, please browse the links on this page or contact our office.