Touring medical residents learn about UHS, Tier 

Downstate medical residents learned firsthand about practice opportunities at UHS and life in the Southern Tier during a Vestal campus tour conducted Oct. 20 by Dr. Floyd and Dr. Gill.

Medical residents and students from the New York City area got a grand tour of the UHS Vestal campus Oct. 20 and learned from UHS physicians about the residency and practice opportunities available in Greater Binghamton.

The residents and students were participating in the fifth "Take a Look Tour," a joint effort of the New York Chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Iroquois Healthcare Alliance.

"The purpose of the tour is to bring residents, many of whom train Downstate, to Upstate New York so they can learn more about the professional opportunities that exist, while seeing firsthand the good quality of life in Upstate areas," said Meg McCarthy, special projects manager of NYACP.  "We schedule stops at both inpatient and outpatient settings in order to expose participants to a variety of practice options."

Said Lori Walling, UHS' senior physician recruiter:  "UHS is very proud to be one of several sites to host tours since 2013.  Others took place at healthcare venues in the Mohawk Valley, Albany, Syracuse and the Finger Lakes." 

At an informal roundable discussion on the Vestal campus, participants were treated to presentations by Frank Floyd, MD, medical director of UHS Internal Medicine Endwell, and Roy Gill, MD, of UHS Primary Care and the UHS Board of Directors, who explained the professional, cultural and environmental advantages of living and working in the Southern Tier.

The UHS physicians also talked candidly about each resident's need to come to terms with how to balance their work and family lives, and how to carve out a sustainable life for themselves while maintaining a busy practice.

The changing role of inpatient and outpatient physicians, the growing importance of hospialists and the mounting pressures on healthcare systems in the age of value-based medicine also were topics.

The New York Chapter of the American College of Physicians is a membership organization dedicated to advancing the specialty of internal medicine in New York State through education, advocacy and quality improvement.

The Iroquois Healthcare Alliance represents 53 hospitals and healthcare systems in 32 counties of Upstate New York.  IHA's mission is to serve as a resource and leader to support its members and the communities they serve through advocacy, education, information, cost-saving initiatives and business solutions.