TERRE HAUTE — The Indiana University School of Medicine-Terre Haute is helping lead the way in an effort to increase the number of primary care physicians in Indiana.
For 2007-08, the number of medical students admitted to the Terre Haute regional campus will increase by eight, to 24.
Within three years, the Terre Haute campus will offer the third and fourth years of medical school, said Peter Duong, interim director of the IU School of Medicine in Terre Haute.
Now, the regional center offers the first and second years of medical school.
Over time, the number of medical students being educated in Terre Haute at any one time would at least double, from the current 32 to at least 64, and possibly higher.
The IU School of Medicine-Terre Haute is based at Indiana State University, with classes taught in Holmstedt Hall and the Landsbaum Center for Health Education. It is a regional campus of the Indiana University School of Medicine.
The medical school’s main campus is in Indianapolis, but students now may complete the first two years of the four-year program at eight regional centers around the state, including the one in Terre Haute.
Last year, the IU School of Medicine recommended a proposal to increase enrollment by 30 percent in the coming years to head off an expected shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas.
Current enrollment statewide is 280; a 30 percent increase would bring it to 364 medical school students by 2012.
Without the additional enrollment, Indiana would be short about 1,975 doctors in 2015, a task force predicted.
Those living in large, urban settings probably wouldn’t feel it too much, but those living in rural, medically underserved areas probably will, Duong said.
For 2007, the proposed increases would be made up of eight additional students in Terre Haute and six new spots in Muncie.
“I believe that what we plan on doing is really significant for Terre Haute,” Duong said. “We’re increasing not only the number of students at this site, but we’re increasing the program to the third and fourth years of medical school. We’ll be one of the first in the statewide system.”
As part of the initiative, an emphasis will be placed on training primary care doctors for rural and medically underserved areas, said Dr. Stephen Leapman, executive associate dean for educational affairs with the IU School of Medicine.
That’s a major reason the Terre Haute site was chosen as one of the first for expansion — because of is affiliation with the Lugar Center for Rural Health, Leapman said.
Also, ISU and the IU School of Medicine jointly offer a Rural Health Program in which students complete a bachelor’s degree through ISU and then begin training at the medical school.
“They have done a wonderful job with the Lugar Center for Rural Health,” Leapman said. “It’s a natural for us. We work very well together.”
Much planning remains to be done, Duong said. The curriculum for the third and fourth year must be developed and faculty must be recruited. Local physicians also must be involved, both to teach and to provide clerkships in which medical students spend time with practicing physicians in the field.
Duong believes the expansion will have a significant economic impact, with more medical students living here and the hiring of faculty who will move here. Also, those faculty will be doing research and will need people to assist with that research.
Currently, the IU School of Medicine in Terre Haute has six full-time faculty and up to 40 part-time faculty who are physicians in the area, Duong said.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.
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