Georgia's colleges need more money and residency slots if they are to address statewide shortages of doctors, dentists and nurses, a task force told the state Board of Regents Wednesday.
The group's report outlined multiple challenges facing medical education and officials discussed the need for new money to hire additional faculty and expand programs. The presentation did not include a cost estimate or timetable for implementation.
Many medical students leave Georgia after graduation because the state lacks residency slots, said Ricardo Azziz, president of Georgia Health Sciences University, which includes the Medical College of Georgia.
The University System of Georgia has worked with hospitals to create about 2,100 residency positions and the task force recommended adding 400 more "in the near future," Azziz said. He said the system would need about 1,400 new positions to be at the national average.
"We are educating physicians for other states," said Regent C. Thomas Hopkins Jr., who is a doctor. "We've got to do more to keep our graduates in Georgia."
The regents adopted the task force's recommendations and at a later date will prioritize them and determine cost. As part of that process, officials said they will consult lawmakers and hospitals.
The system has struggled to graduate enough nurses, and Azziz said it is hindered by a lack of nursing faculty. The task force recommended increasing the number of nursing faculty in the university system to 485 by 2017. The system had about 410 nursing faculty members in 2007, he said.
The regents recently expanded medical education. In the spring the board allowed three two-year colleges -- Darton, Georgia Highlands and South Georgia -- to begin offering bachelor degrees in nursing. There was debate over the Darton program because similar degrees are offered at two other colleges within about 30 miles.
Last August, the system opened the Athens partnership campus between Georgia Health Sciences University and the University of Georgia to produce more doctors. The medical college also is expanding facilities in Augusta so there is room for more students.
By 2017, the medical college is projected to admit 300 students in each class between the two locations. When complete, medical school enrollment is projected to increase by nearly 60 percent to 1,200 students.
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