VA brings more doctors to Nevada

At VA’s Southern Nevada Healthcare System, partnerships with local academic institutions not only improve health care for Veterans but also assure the presence of essential health professionals in nearby communities.

According to a recent Bureau of Health Workforce report, Nevada ranks 45 out of 50 in physicians per capita by state. VA partnerships with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and Touro University of Nevada address these shortages by training residents who now work at local VA facilities—and live in nearby communities. 

The VA-UNLV partnership has placed 40 medical residents at Southern Nevada VA, while 13 Touro graduates now work there.  

“The feedback from the students has been absolutely positive,” said Dr. Wolfgang Gilliar, Touro’s dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine. “[They] feel it is rigorous, but the good students like rigor. That tells me that this is working.”

Rich learning environment

UNLV graduates feel similarly, according to Dr. Kate Martin, associate dean for graduate medical education at UNLV. “They enjoy the autonomy of getting involved in the decision-making process with significant support from the attending physicians,” said Martin. “They do all of this in a highly rich learning environment, caring for Veterans with often complex medical conditions.”

Martin, who trained with VA as a resident before joining UNLV, remembers what it was like working with Veterans and what left the biggest impact.

“One of the themes that came up often for me in speaking with Veterans was how appreciative they were of the VA health care system,” Martin shared. “I realized that there was something important and special I was a part of there, and I wanted to make sure I was contributing to that.”

VA trains more than 122,000 health professions trainees each year in more than 60 disciplines. VA partners with more than 1,450 academic institutions throughout the nation, making VA’s health professions education program the largest in the United States.