UCF is pleased to work with HCA Healthcare and the Orlando VA Medical Center to sponsor residency and fellowship programs accredited by the ACGME.
In October, 2015 UCF announced a residency consortium with HCA North Florida Division that will add over 600 residency and fellowship spots in the greater Orlando area (including Kissimmee), Gainesville, Ocala, and Pensacola. HCA Healthcare is the nation’s largest hospital network. There are now 28 residency and fellowship programs approved by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in the consortium, including 2 programs that began as osteopathic programs. Two new Pensacola based programs in obstetrics/gynecology and physical medicine/rehabilitation will welcome residents in 2021, and a vascular surgery fellowship is planned at the Orlando VAMC and Osceola in 2021.
The college’s first residency program – in internal medicine – began in 2013 in partnership with the Orlando VA and Osceola Regional medical centers. The inaugural classes of several programs have achieved high board pass rates to date. Our 2020-21 programs at North Florida Regional Medical Center (Gainesville), Ocala Regional Medical Center, and Osceola Regional Medical Center have over 485 residents and fellows. The Orlando VA also has a podiatry residency which includes a year at Osceola and fellowship programs separate from the consortium in which fellows are directly employed by the VAMC. Many of our programs include rotations at Nemours Children’s Hospital.
The new residencies help fill a state and national need, and will also help address the doctor shortage in Florida. The doctor shortage impacts patients, who often must wait weeks to see a physician. There are not enough residency slots in the nation for the number of medical school graduates each year, said Dr. Deborah German, UCF’s vice president for medical affairs and founding dean of the UCF College of Medicine. While UCF’s medical school graduates have been very successful in securing residencies, many qualified students do not, simply because there are not enough spots, she said. Hundreds of U.S. medical school seniors have been left without residency positions in recent years – effectively meaning they could not practice medicine after graduating with their M.D. degrees.
“We know that where a resident completes his or her program is usually where they decide to stay and work,” Dr. German said. “We are eager to partner with hospitals across our community and state to attract and retain more excellent doctors for Florida residents.”