Article Details Efforts to Increase Residency Slots in Eastern Washington

With the University of Washington officially welcoming first-year medical students to campus, the Spokesman-Review used the opportunity to explore what residency in Spokane might look like once those new students graduate.

The article notes the 2024 reduction in family medicine and transitional residency slots in Spokane, as well as the elimination of the sports medicine fellowship. A bill recently introduced to Congress would add as many as 14,000 residency slots across the country, according to the article.

Darryl Potyk, MD, associate dean of the UWSOM, told the paper he hoped the additional funding would come through. That might entice future medical students to Spokane, where they could undertake all of their medical training in one city.

“The power of the residencies as a recruiting tool is often underestimated,” he told the paper.