Regional Medical Campuses

The Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine was founded to improve access to health services in medically underserved communities in Washington. The college will train students in hospitals and clinics across the state of Washington, beginning in the first year of medical school. Physicians are more likely to practice in the areas where they receive their medical training, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. This model of training equips future physicians to become health care leaders, ready to serve communities where they are needed most.

Growing Need for Physicians in Washington

Nearly a quarter of Americans live in rural communities, but only 10 percent of physicians practice in those areas. Many rural residents lack access to medical care. In the state of Washington, nearly half of all physicians are located in urban King County. Physician shortages plague vast areas of the state.

• 16 of 39 Washington counties are severely underserved, with 10.4 or fewer doctors per 10,000 residents. These residents live mostly in rural areas, where hospitals and clinics often struggle to attract doctors to their communities
• Population projections indicate that Washington will need an additional 1,695 primary care physicians between 2010 and 2030, or 85 more per year

Community-Based Model

Our statewide affiliations with clinical partners are the heart of community-based medical education at the college. Not only do we have partnerships with the major hospitals and clinics in our hub communities, we also have them with many rural and underserved areas across the state of Washington. You will experience many types of healthcare delivery systems from critical access to public district hospitals to multi-specialty clinics serving small communities. These clinical partners are the cornerstone of our community-based approach to medical education.

With these partnerships, we hope to not only yield highly prepared doctors and healthier communities but also address the workforce needs of the state. Through our admissions process and our curriculum, our goal is to produce more doctors that will stay in the communities where we have these partnerships. The involvement of the partners delivers substantial benefits for students and communities alike.

Outstanding Preparation for Tomorrow’s Physicians

Instead of rotating through wards in a university-owned teaching hospital, you will train in the diverse health care facilities of community clinical partners. Your experiences can include large and small hospitals and clinics, urban and rural clinics, working with diverse patient populations. Instead of learning primarily from medical residents, you learn primarily from seasoned clinicians who may have decades of experience. By the time you begin residency, you will be well ahead of the curve in clinical skills and experience—ready to meet the evolving needs of the 21st century health care system.

Our Clinical Partners

These partners cluster around 4 distributed regional medical campus hubs: Spokane, Tri-Cities, Vancouver, and Everett which were chosen both for their designation as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) as well as for the ability to co-locate our medical school with the existing campus infrastructure.