Graduate Medical Education
St. Joseph’s Medical Center (SJMC) is taking bold steps to train the next generation of doctors to serve our community. With a major expansion of our Physician Graduate Medical Education Program, St. Joseph's will become a leading regional teaching hospital. Our goal is to have 12 programs with 215 physicians training in our hospital and serving our community by 2025.
Now, you can pioneer a new era in healthcare in the San Joaquin Valley by helping us train the future physicians of St. Joseph’s Medical Center.
What is GME?
When doctors graduate from medical school, they continue their education in a medical specialty called a Graduate Medical Education Residency. Residencies in a hospital setting provide essential additional clinical training preparing physicians for the independent practice of medicine in their chosen specialty. Currently, many medical students have to leave the western United States to train, decreasing the likelihood that they will return to this area to practice medicine.
St. Joseph's Physician Graduate Medical Education Program launched in 2018, and today, 70 physicians are training in four programs, attracting top-quality young doctors who have connections to the communities we serve (Emergency Medicine, Family Practice, Internal Medicine, and Transitional Year). This summer, we will welcome a new class of residents to our four existing programs as well as our two newest programs, Psychiatry and Anesthesia. As the program continues to expand, we hope to create a future physician workforce to improve access to quality medical care in San Joaquin County.
“With the launch of each of these specialized residency programs comes increased access to these specialty medical services for everyone in our community,” said Don Wiley, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s. “We are so proud of this program and the impact it will have on our community, for generations to come.”
Innovations in the Education Center
The program’s two-story center will offer residencies in Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Transitional Year, General Surgery, Psychiatry, Anesthesia, Urology, Orthopedics, OB/GYN, Neurology, Thoracic Surgery, and Interventional Radiology. The center includes lecture space, an extensive medical library, conference rooms, office and research space, and equipment needed for each of the medical specialties.
Physicians train in two Simulation Labs, a central Simulation Lab Control Room, and debriefing areas which provide safe, highly impactful education to our physicians, nurses, and other clinical staff. Trainees have access to the next generation of healthcare training in a simulated environment using advanced medical mannequins.
As physicians and other clinicians learn to refine their communication, master new techniques, and improve procedures, simulation training also dramatically enhances patient safety. Training sessions can be digitally recorded and projected to an adjoining classroom, and later participants can review and analyze their performances through a debriefing process. Trainees practice interventions on life-like mannequins, whose responses can be preset, allowing participants to make and learn from mistakes without harming actual patients.
Another vital investment is the DaVinci Xi Surgical System supporting the most advanced minimally invasive option for complex colorectal, general, gynecologic and urologic surgeries; it’s also a must have teaching tool for future residency programs and expanding service lines.
Economic Boost to the Valley
Overall, SJMC’s economic impact on our community is significant; our salaries and benefits alone are more than $350 million a year, with the vast majority of our people living and working in the San Joaquin Valley. Additionally, the expanded education program will provide a boost to the economic development of our region through the creation of new jobs, new spending by SJMC for goods and services, and generation of new tax revenue. Residents and their families spend over three years in training, placing them in the position to make the Stockton area their home, contributing to the health, education, diversity, tax and economic base, and infrastructure our community.
Role of Philanthropy
St. Joseph’s Medical Center has been a leader in responding to the challenges of providing high-quality care to our community. By transforming our dynamic medical center to a formidable teaching hospital, together, we can help attract new physicians and enhance the quality of healthcare in the San Joaquin Valley. Our expansion plan will require resources to build out the facility, purchase equipment, and support medical research, educational projects, and conferences for medical students.
Dignity Health, along with several government and private foundation grants, are generously funding most operational costs during several phases of growth in the coming years. Since its inception our GME residency programs have received generous support from both the State of California (Song Brown Program) and Physicians for a Healthy California (CalMedforce GME Grant Program). This grant support has been critical to SJMC success in developing robust GME programs. Additional charitable support of $1 million for the expanded education space and additional technologies for medical simulation training suites is needed to support this expansion. We invite you invest in your community by supporting SJMC’s bold initiative to recruit, train, and retain highly skilled new physicians to join our vital mission, providing quality medical care to all the communities we serve.
Gifts to the campaign may be structured in many ways, including pledges made over multiple years. Please contact the Foundation at (209) 467-6347 or SJFSJ@dignityheatlh.org if you have an interest in supporting our campaign.
Updated 4/9/2021