Graduate Medical Education (GME) Health Professions 

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Demonstration Project enables the UMEC to influence the GME Health Profession workforce training programs in order to ensure that Utah has an adequate supply of health care personnel. The following medical professions are some of the GME Health Professions that UMEC has studied so far:

Physicians                       Dentists

Podiatrists                       Pharmacists

Physician Assistants        Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN)

                    Other Resources

Details of each GME Health Profession are provided below:

PhysiciansReturn to Top

Physicians include trained professionals in all general, specialist and sub-specialist medical and surgical fields in Allopathic and Osteopathic medicine. A list of the recognized specialties in medicine can be found here: http://www.abms.org/Who_We_Help/Physicians/specialties.aspx.

The University of Utah School of Medicine, located in Salt Lake City, UT, graduates 100 physicians each year.

To ensure quality services for the public, these physicians require additional training (residency and fellowship training) to qualify for Board Certification in their field of general, specialty or sub-specialty medicine. A comprehensive listing of all the training programs for physicians in Utah is provided:

• University of Utah Residency Programs
• McKay Dee Hospital Family Practice Residency Program
  
• Utah Valley Family Practice Residency Program
  
• St. Mark's Family Practice Residency Program
  
• Intermountain Medical Center Transitional Year Residency Program

During their residency training, physicians obtain licenses to practice medicine through the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL). The licensing requirements are the same for Allopathic and Osteopathic trained physicians.

The UMEC has developed two workforce reports for Utah physicians -  1998 and 2002 and is in the process of developing a third report in this series. The reports can be downloaded free of cost from the Publications section of our website.

Other Benefits for Physicians in Utah:

• Health Profession Education Financial Assistance Program, Utah Dept. of Health

DentistsReturn to Top

Dentists include trained professionals in general and the nine recognized specialities in dentistry (http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/specialties/definitions.asp).

Utah does not have a dental school. However, there are two dental education programs in the state.

• Regional Dental Education Program (RDEP)-Creighton

RDEP-Creighton program is a cooperative dental education program between the State of Utah and Creighton University School of Dentistry. Students admitted to the program will receive the first year of their training at the University of Utah. The remainder of their training will take place at the dental school facilities at Creighton University (located in Omaha, NE), which is serving as the parent dental school.

• Regional Dental Education Program (RDEP)-At Large

The RDEP- At Large scholarship program reimburses 10 selected students when they return to Utah for practice after dental school graduation, completion of a dental graduate program or military scholarship requirement.

Unlike physicians, residency training is not mandatory for dentists. Utah has three dental residency training programs:

• University of Utah Dental Residency Program (GPR)
• Primary Children's Medical Center Pediatric Dental Post Graduate Program
  
• Veteran Affairs (VA) Medical Center General Practice Residency Program
  

The UMEC has published a dentist workforce profile in 2002 and a dentist workforce report is due by the end of July, 2008. Both the publications can be freely downloaded from our Publications section.

PodiatristsReturn to Top

Podiatrists receive a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) degree after completing a four year GME program. They are trained much like physicians but their speciality is in dealing with the foot.  Most have surgery or orthopedic training and can operate in hospitals. There are no Podiatric Medicine schools in Utah.

Podiatrists are required to complete Podiatric Residency training programs to be able to practice podiatry. Utah has a Podiatric Residency program at the VA hospital. Podiatrists have to be licensed by the Utah DOPL in order to legally practice in Utah.

The UMEC has published a Podiatrist workforce report in 2004. The report can be freely downloaded from our Publications section.

PharmacistsReturn to Top

Pharmacists receive a PharmD degree after completing a four year GME program. There are two colleges of Pharmacy in Utah:

• College of Pharmacy at the University of Utah
• College of Pharmacy at the University of Southern Nevada, Utah Campus
  

Pharmacists in Utah need to be licensed by the Utah DOPL. The UMEC report on Utah's Pharmacist workforce in 2000 indicates a shortage of pharmacists in Utah. Affects of trends like increased prescription volume and medication management on the pharmacist workforce in Utah are being studied by the UMEC in the 2005 pharmacist workforce study.

Electronic copies of the 2000 pharmacist workforce report can be downloaded from our Publications section. The 2005 pharmacist workforce report will be uploaded as soon as it is available.

Physician AssistantsReturn to Top

Physician Assistants (PAs) serve as cost effective physician extenders. They operate under the supervision of a physician. Utah has a PA training program at the University of Utah - Utah Physician Assistant Program (UPAP). It is a 27 month program and graduates about 34 PAs each year.

PAs need to be licensed in Utah by the Utah DOPL. PAs may work in any specialty or subspecialty, as long as their supervising physician practices the same specialty. 

The PA report published by the UMEC in 2005 can be downloaded from our Publications section.

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses Return to Top

Advance Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) are registered nurses (RNs) who have received advanced training.  Under Utah law, APRNs are licensed by the Utah DOPL to practice much the same as a physician.  APRNs can be grouped into four categories: Nurse Practitioners (NP), Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), Clinical Nurse Midwifes (CNM), and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA). The UMEC published an APRN workforce report in 2005. The report can be downloaded for free from our Publications section.

The following institutions offer APRN GME programs:

• University of Utah College of Nursing
• Brigham Young University College of Nursing
• Westminster College Nursing and Health Sciences Programs

Other ResourcesReturn to Top

 http://www.suu.edu/ruralhealth/Health%20Careers%20Resources.htm

NOTE: If there are any corrections or updates to the information provided in this page, please e-mail Julie Olson (juolson@utah.gov). Thank You.