Doors open to residency center

Although the Family Medicine Residency Center may be small in core faculty, it is mighty in community.

Pullman Regional Hospital officially opened the Family Medicine Residency Center on Friday with a small celebration. The center is currently staffed with two local family medicine providers, who will see patients in preparation before residents arrive this summer. Doctors will be tasked with overseeing three physician residents as the center grows in July.

The Family Medical Residency program is a partnership between Pullman Regional Hospital and Washington State University’s Elton S. Floyd College of Medicine, according to Stephen Hall, the program director. The hospital will be teaching the next generation of rural doctors, as the program provides medical school graduates with their last three years of training before they receive a license to practice medicine.

The hospital and university held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in September for the newly renovated facility, which was funded fully through philanthropy. The hospital created a capital campaign that raised $7.6 million for the center, as well as the EPIC medical record system and a da Vinci robotic-assisted surgical system, said Alison Weigley, director of external relations at the hospital.

The center includes 14 exam rooms where residents will treat patients, lab spaces, a meeting area, two procedure rooms and an office space for attending physicians to supervise residents.

Drs. Drue Webb and Molly Thompson are excited for residents to begin rolling into the center.

Webb graduated residency in 2018 and worked in Montana before she moved to Pullman to practice at the Pullman Family Medicine in 2020. She said the center will be a great opportunity to bring more physicians to the Palouse, and is ready to be hands-on while teaching residents.

“I think that there’s a really big need in this area. I think people have a hard time getting in to see their doctor and there’s a really big need in this area,” Webb said. “There’s a lot of resources that we have, but minimally, and so what I’m really excited about is to see how we can as a residency kind of fill some of those areas and provide some support to them.”

Thompson graduated residency and moved to Pullman in 2020, securing her first job at Palouse Medical. Thompson said she made the switch from private practice to residency because she missed the educational side of practicing medicine. Teaching “fills my cup” she added, and is enthusiastic to make it a part of her passion alongside providing care.

“You have the responsibility of being a good physician,” Thompson said. “But then you also have the responsibility of making or helping people become good physicians — the kind you want your future co-workers to be or you would be comfortable sending your kids or grandma to.”

Webb and Thompson will provide oversight and ensure residents are following proper procedure. They will also be seeing patients as well as supervising residents. As the center gathers more residents over the coming years, Thompson said an attending physician will be responsible for three residents.

Thompson said as well as residents receiving mentorship from their attendings, they will receive guidance from Pullman Regional Hospital’s specialty staff.

“Family medicine is like all the specialties in one,” Thompson said.

Family medicine residents will need to learn a robust range of skills and doctors in the Pullman Regional Hospital’s community will offer assistance. They will be able to request assistance, as well as ask physicians questions.

Webb said patients can schedule appointments as they would at a doctor’s office. She expects to get some patients from the emergency room to provide follow-up treatment.

Jade Stellmon, program administrator for WSU, said there is no preference given to WSU medical school graduates from the graduate medical education program. Medical school students from around the world began submitting their applications for residency programs last fall, and the hospital’s residency program received more than 500 applications.

After the hospital interviews candidates, both the program and future residents will create rankings of their top choices. The national accrediting agency will conduct a computer analysis for all residency programs called “the Match.”

Pullman Regional Hospital will know their three incoming physician residents on March 17, the national “Match Day.”

CEO Matt Forge said Pullman Regional Hospital is excited to welcome residents to a team of “incredible, established providers.” He added the center took a lot of planning and wouldn’t be possible without Dr. Stephen Hall.

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com.