Which comes first, the doctor or the medical school? Montana attempts more homegrown doctors

Which comes first: The doctor or the medical school in Montana?

That question is really part of the answer about how to solve Montana’s doctor shortage — it ranks 30th in number of doctors per capita, and many are older and beginning to retire, leading to an increasing shortage.

Some in the Montana medical community insist before more medical students, the Treasure State needs more doctors.

Others, like Rocky Vista University and Touro University, have decided the medical school, complete with several hundred doctoral students, is the way to solve the shortage. RVU, the for-profit, private school is investing more than $80 million in a campus that held a groundbreaking earlier this month in Billings.

Already established graduate medical leaders insist that the increased students at both RVU and in Great Falls at Touro University will overwhelm the already overworked, taxed medical providers in the state while the new medical schools insist creating more students will create a more robust medical community.

Read more: https://dailymontanan.com/2021/10/17/which-comes-first-the-doctor-or-the-medical-school-montana-attempts-more-homegrown-doctors/