| Posted August 14, 2015 | By Melonee Hurt | Categorized under WMC Happenings |

Williamson Medical Center has always worked with physicians in the residency portion of their medical training, but this month marks the first time the medical center has hosted a group of third-year medical students as part of an official education program.

The students are from LMU-DCOM in Harrogate, Tenn., and have passed part one of their board exams.

In addition to working with a preceptor from WMC's medical staff to complete core and elective rotations, they will also attend conferences as well as get face time with patients.

"These students have already experienced mock clinics at school and will now get to do histories and physical exams on patients who agree to be seen by a medical student," said Starling Evins, M.D., WMC's chief medical officer who is overseeing the program. "These patients will essentially get two physicals. The student and the physician will each do their own exam and will then be able to compare notes to see if the student missed anything. Surprisingly, most patients are willing to help with this process because they feel they are helping contribute to a student's education. Learning to do proper histories and physicals is the most important thing a third-year student needs to accomplish."

It's important to note that the students will not make entries to a patient's medical records. Only the physician will be entering information into the official record. Evins said the students will keep a parallel record for their preceptor to look at, which will be shredded once the patient is discharged.

Art Williams, D.O., at Williamson Medical Group, said participating in this teaching opportunity energizes his enthusiasm for medicine in general.

"Being a preceptor not only helps the ‘local' school, but it also strengthens my skills as a physician by being challenged by a student's energy vitality and remarkably insightful questions," Williams said. "Plus, the students are just plain fun to have around."

J. Michael Wieting, D.O., MEd, the interim dean of Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, said the osteopathic profession has always trained physicians using a community-based model with the idea that it prepares students to practice in their community.

"Our faculty and LMU's university leadership knew of Williamson Medical Center from its outstanding reputation as a community-based hospital," Wieting said. "In addition, we wanted to expand our presence in the central region of Tennessee and we couldn't think of a better partner with which to do that. We look forward to a long-term partnership with Williamson Medical Center in training the next generation of physicians for our region."

One of the benefits for WMC, in addition to taking steps towards becoming more of a teaching hospital, includes building lasting relationships with future physicians. Research shows that medical students develop a degree of loyalty to their teaching hospital and develop referral patterns and maintain contact with physicians on the hospital staff. Nationally, teaching hospitals receive more than 40 percent of admissions from physicians who have trained at their hospital.

The LMU students began their rotations at Williamson Medical Center on July 27.