Know Your Hospital—November 1, 2009 In my last column, I discussed the economic impact your hospital has on the local and regional economy. This time I want to discuss the importance of our Medical Staff. Rural communities often find it difficult to recruit high quality well-trained doctors. Logan Medical Center (LMC) has been very blessed in its continued ability to recruit the best doctors available. Physicians in rural areas want to provide great medical care while also being able to enjoy the quality of life available in our community. Even though Guthrie is close to Oklahoma City and many of our residents actually work there, in the health care world we are considered rural. LMC physicians, many of whom were trained and worked at OU Medical Center before they moved here, not only enjoy the close “hands-on” experience they have with you, but they also practice medicine at a more focused, relaxed pace that permits them to devote more time to you. There is a nationwide shortage of physicians in all specialties and the American Medical Association is projecting even greater shortages as the Baby Boomer population ages. Typically, a physician spends four years in college, four years in medical school, and another three to eight years in residency training to specialize in a specific area of interest. At the earliest, they do not finish school and training until they are 30 years old and some not until they are 35. The most important factors in convincing a doctor or any other professional to move to a rural community are things like other doctors to share call with, good housing, schools, and available recreational/social activities. Fortunately, we have all of these and more due to our proximity to Oklahoma City. With this in mind, let’s explore the medical staff at LMC. As with all hospitals, LMC has two categories of doctors on staff: active and courtesy. Active means that most of them work full time at LMC. Courtesy means they work part time here in combination with other hospitals in the area. The courtesy staff uses our facilities to see the patients referred to them by our active staff and includes specialties in cardiology, gynecology, orthopedics, oncology, podiatry, psychiatry, dermatology, gastroenterology and urology. The active staff consists of primary care physicians, (family practice, internal medicine, and pediatrics). These physicians have offices in our clinics and are the core of LMC’s hospital medical staff. There are 10 primary care physicians and five mid-level providers (physician assistants and nurse practitioners). Five of the active staff are double board-certified in internal medicine and pediatrics. One specializes in internal medicine and three are board-certified in family practice. In addition, one of our active staff specializes in pulmonology and is board-certified in intensive care and critical care medicine. Each of the doctors make decisions every day that affects the health, well-being and the lives of the people they serve. LMC contributes to this capability by providing excellent services and first rate facilities. LMC physicians understand the importance of their responsibility in providing high quality local community health care. For most of them it is one of the main reasons they choose to work here. If there is one thing I hope you learn from this column it is this. LMC has developed a remarkably high-caliber medical staff. You are being cared for by medical professionals who truly consider YOU the most important person they are involved with every day. Sometimes, we don’t realize the impact of the skilled professionals we have right here at home and how they can positively affect our daily lives. Next time, I will bring you up to date on the activities surrounding our network of clinics and how they support the medical staff and caregivers associated with LMC. If there is a subject that you would like covered, please go to our website at www.loganmedicalcenter.com and I will try to address it in an upcoming column. Thank you for taking time to learn about your hospital.