A recent episode of Health Matters on the PBS station KSPS featured Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine Vice Chair for Family Medicine Jaime Bowman, MD, FAAFP, discussing how the college is training physicians committed to filling critical gaps in access to care for Washington communities, especially in rural and other underserved areas.
“We were founded in order to serve all of the communities across Washington, especially those that are underserved, which includes our rural communities,” Dr. Bowman says in the episode. “What we found in the evidence is that communities, when they have a shared identity with their provider, have an increased amount of trust. So we have prioritized admitting students who come from rural communities or who have a significant amount of rural experience in their background.”
About 25% of each MD class has a background in rural Washington, she notes. As the first graduating class completes their residency training, many have returned to Washington to practice, including in small towns such as Colfax, Cheney, and Port Angeles.
Panelists also discuss the need for additional specialists as well as primary care providers in rural areas, the emerging role of AI in the medical field, and how community input has shaped WSU’s medical school, among other topics.