The University of Kansas can now move forward with plans to expand its School of Medicine to Salina and in Wichita after the accrediting authority gave its approval this week.
KU Med plans to open a four-year program in Salina and to expand its existing Wichita branch from a two-year clinical program to a four-year program, aiming to help address the shortage of rural physicians in the state.
The first class of four-year medical students at the Wichita and Salina sites will start in fall 2011.
“For the past hundred years we have been successful in fulfilling our mission of training excellent physicians to meet the needs of our state. Approximately half the physicians in Kansas received medical education at the KU School of Medicine,” said KU Med’s Vice Chancellor Barbara Atkinson. “Still, there is a growing need for physicians in our state. These campus expansions will help us achieve our common goal: that many of our students will ultimately practice primary care in underserved areas of Kansas.”
Currently, students in KU’s Wichita program spend their first two years at the Kansas City, Kan. campus before going to Wichita for two years of clinical training. Students will now be able to spend all four years in Wichita.
An existing rural track program in Kansas City also sent students to Salina for clinical training. With the expanded program, students interested in rural health careers may now complete all four years of training in Salina.
The university’s plans are moving forward after a favorable review by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting authority for medical education programs, which visited the Wichita campus and the proposed Salina site in July.
The KU School of Medicine-Salina will be housed primarily in space provided by the Salina Regional Health Center, where clinical faculty will facilitate small-group learning. Students will listen to lectures along with their peers in Kansas City and Wichita via interactive television and podcasts, while web-based systems will support most of the curriculum’s laboratory components.
“With today’s technology, we can bring the best elements of a large academic health center to complement the strengths of a community like Salina and give students the best of both worlds,” said Heidi Chumley, associate dean for medical education at KU Medical Center.
William Cathcart-Rake, a Salina-based oncologist, will direct the KU School of Medicine-Salina.
“The whole mission of the Salina campus is to train physicians in non-metropolitan areas of the state and show these young medical students that life can be good and practice can be challenging outside of the big city,” Cathcart-Rake said.
The School of Medicine-Wichita currently has about 130 faculty members and supports 13 residency programs. KU’s expansion in Wichita also includes the KU School of Pharmacy-Wichita, which will open with 20 students in fall 2011 and will add 20 more students in 2012.