Page 4 - Ochsner Magazine - Issue 3

Medical Education
Training
the Next
Generation
Innovative educational initiatives ensure that Ochsner’s physicians are the best and the brightest.
At Ochsner, you just might catch a glimpse of some future physicians. Bright young medical students are hit- ting the books at the Ochsner Clinical School, which opened in 2009.
“We’re graduating our third class in November,” says William W. Pinsky, MD, head of the medical school and Executive Vice President and Chief Ac- ademic Officer for Ochsner Health Sys- tem. One success factor is how students do in the residency match program. So far, 91 percent of the school’s graduates were offered a residency at one of their top three choices of hospitals.
The school was spurred by Ochsner’s mission to provide excellent care, edu- cation and research. “As a tax-exempt organization, we’re owned by the com- munity and need to serve it,” Dr. Pinsky
Amanda Theppotte,
a fourth-year medical student, will finish her degree this fall.
says. “One of our obligations is to create the next generation of caregivers.”
While Ochsner physicians have taught medicine in affiliation with oth- er institutions before, the new school allows students to spend most or all of their third and fourth year—the clinical component—at Ochsner.
“We’re consistently in the top 5 percent of all hospitals in the country in terms of outcomes,” Dr. Pinsky says. “By observing how we take care of patients in addition to learning about a particular discipline, students will come out of here better doctors.”
Still, Ochsner wanted to join forces with a top university and medical school to strengthen its program. After considering several U.S. medical schools, it made a surprising choice, partnering with the prestigious University of Queensland School of Medicine in Brisbane, Australia.
Students in the University of Queensland – Ochsner Clinical School spend their first two years in Brisbane, then spend two years of clinical edu- cation at Ochsner. “I recognized that with the University of Queensland,
we would have a terrific research and
4 www.ochsner.org
Daymon Gardner