Porterville, CA – July 12, 2022: Sierra View Medical Center (SVMC) recently welcomed 14 new Internal Medical Residents to SVMC’s accredited, community-based Internal Medical program. As of July 1, they officially started alongside supervising attending physicians and senior residents.
“This marks the next step in the evolution of our residency program,” said Dr. Paul Watanakunakorn, MD, SVMC Residency Program Director. “This year we now have second year residents with the benefit of the previous year’s learning and experience available to help teach and mentor the first year residents, along with the supervising physicians who taught them.”
In the next 12 months of training for the new residents, there will be an emphasis on basic skills and rapid accumulation of medical knowledge needed to practice. The residents will spend most of their time on the 2nd and 3rd floors of Sierra View Medical Center within the Med/Surg, ICU, and Telemetry units. To give them exposure to outpatient medicine, they will be learning within surrounding medical offices that specialize in areas such as Cardiology, Nephrology and Endocrinology as well as primary care.
Of the new residents, 12 will be at SVMC for three years and two residents are preliminary and will be leaving after one year to pursue another specialty. During their residency program, each resident will gain the skills that enrich their careers with real-life experiences. These experiences also benefit our healthcare system that directly impact the community as well.
“The residency program is both a short-term and long-term benefit for the community,” said Dr. Watanakunakorn. “In the short term, having these additional physicians as part of the care team here at SVMC means more caregivers, more eyes on patients, and more timely care. It has been especially important over the last year when we have experienced surges in admissions to the hospital – the added physicians kept the system from being overwhelmed and helped to expedite care. In the long term, the residency program plays an important role in medical care in the area moving forward, as we are hopefully training some physicians that will end up staying in the area and become practicing physicians for the citizenry of Porterville and the surrounding areas for the future.”
After much anticipation for the new second cohort of the Internal Medicine Graduate Medicine Education residents, SVMC is thrilled that they are here. This program is an integral part of their journey and the organization is excited for them to be learning among some of the most professional, knowledgeable and humble staff.