Louisiana Medical School Residents Leaving For Other States

Main Category: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 27 May 2006 - 11:00 PST

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More than 100 Louisiana State University Medical School-New Orleans residents, about one-sixth of the total, have left the state since Hurricane Katrina, LSU Health Sciences Center Chancellor Larry Hollier said on Wednesday, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports. Hollier said they have left because of "the storm and the anxiety of not having enough patients to work with." Charity Hospital and University Hospital -- where most residents trained -- remain closed. Hollier said 70% to 75% of the school's residents generally practice medicine in Louisiana after they finish training, so the loss of residents means that the state is losing its future doctors. Hollier said efforts are under way for LSU to partner with private hospitals as training locations for residents while LSU builds new hospitals in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. He said construction of the hospitals will take at least five years. The executive committee of the LSU Board of Supervisors told Hollier they would support efforts "to prevent the further erosion of the residency programs" (Shuler, Baton Rouge Advocate, 5/25).

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