Baptist North Mississippi recently earned accreditation for its Internal Medicine Residency Program and is accepting applications immediately.
Across the Mid-South, Baptist Memorial Medical Education sponsors eight medical specialty training programs in various specialties, with two more in development.
Baptist North Mississippi’s three-year residency training program is the first medical residency in Oxford, Mississippi. Twelve positions have been approved for the first year, and 12 more will be added during each of the next three years for a total of 36 residency positions.
After a rigorous development process, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited the program. It will participate in the 2021 National Resident Matching Program’s Main Residency Match, with the goal of welcoming the first class to Baptist North Mississippi this July.
“Achieving ACGME accreditation is a huge accomplishment, and this is a testament to the vision, expertise and diligence of the Baptist organization,” said Dr. Seger S. Morris, program director of the Baptist North Mississippi Internal Medicine Residency Program. “Our faculty has designed an innovative learning environment, Baptist has allocated substantial resources to ensure proper implementation of our plans, and students from around the world have already expressed interest in training here. I know our entire team will be proud to watch our first class of 12 resident physicians make their mark as the pioneers of this substantial boost to health care in North Mississippi and beyond.”
Residency, also known as graduate medical education, is the next step of medical education that follows graduation from medical school and prepares physicians to practice independently. Upon completion of a residency, physicians can also choose to further their career by entering fellowships.
Morris, Associate Program Director Dr. Jacob Whelan, and core faculty and specialty education coordinators ‒ who are all Baptist medical staff physicians ‒ will guide resident physicians toward milestone and personal goal achievements.
The physicians in the Baptist North Mississippi residency will divide their time between general internal medicine and subspecialty services; the ICU and ER; outpatient clinic settings; consultation rotations; and long-term care settings, almost all of which will be completed in Oxford, Mississippi. Three rotations ‒ endocrinology, geriatrics, and infectious disease ‒ will take resident physicians to Memphis, Tennessee, one month at a time. They will also participate in daily didactic lecture sessions and case presentations, as well as engage in leading-edge simulation experiences.
A new Baptist outpatient clinic will provide the setting for resident physicians to learn under attending internal medicine physicians while serving as area patients’ primary care physicians and offering follow-up care to recently hospitalized patients. The new facility is under construction and is scheduled to open in the Oxford Commons development this spring.
The program’s mission is to train clinically and procedurally competent internal medicine physicians who will provide high-quality, safe, cost-effective and patient/family-centered care for adults in North Mississippi, upholding the Baptist Memorial Health Care mission of healing, preaching and teaching.
“This is an extremely proud moment for our facility, our organization and our region,” said Bill Henning, CEO and administrator of Baptist North Mississippi. “Many people have devoted their time, talents and determination to making this training program a reality. We are pleased to further serve the residents of Mississippi by training the physicians of the future who will lead our communities to better health.”
For more information about applying to the Internal Medicine Residency Program in Oxford, or to learn more, visit bmme-imresidency-northmississippi.org.
