Speights: There is Tremendous Progress
NYITCOM-Arkansas Site Dean , is featured in 聽as he answers questions about the growing number of residencies in the state鈥檚 rural areas. As he notes, residency opportunities for graduating medical students have increased greatly since NYITCOM-Arkansas opened as the state鈥檚 first osteopathic medical school in 2016, with another D.O. school opening elsewhere in the state soon after.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been tremendous progress. Prior to 2015, residency training in Arkansas was only being done in academic institutions,鈥� said Speights. 鈥淲hen the two osteopathic schools opened, we helped a number of community hospitals understand the need and opportunity that existed to start new programs. Over the last 10 years, there have been 26 new residency programs opened in the state, accounting for more than 220 annual positions. The osteopathic schools were responsible for 20 of those new [residency] programs.鈥�
NYITCOM鈥檚 Jonesboro, Ark., medical school location seeks to educate, train, and position more physicians in the Mississippi Delta region, a medically underserved area of the United States.