Colquitt Regional Medical Center creates surgical rotation partnership with Emory University

MOULTRIE, Ga. – In an effort to elevate healthcare and medical education, Colquitt Regional Medical Center forge a dynamic partnership with Emory University.

Colquitt Regional Medical Center has established a surgical rotation partnership with Emory University, signifying a significant milestone in its graduate medical education endeavors.

“Anytime you bring other people into an environment, a rural environment like Moultrie, you bring surgical residents that have a different set of skills than what we usually use. We learn from them as much as they learn from us. These folks have all been through 4, 5, 6, years of surgical training already before they come to see us. We talked to about it over a year ago, about how to give surgical residents into rural Georgia; to show them how it’s done out of the big city, away from the ivory tower like Emory. It worked out very nicely. It took about six months to get it all put together, and now a year later we have our first resident. We’ve now done one a month, and we’ll have one every month for the year, and then hope to continue it next year, and even expand it to other specialties,” said Dr. Howard Melton, M.D.

The completion of general surgery residency program requires five years of training, during which residents undergo a comprehensive curriculum. During their third, fourth, and fifth years of training, Colquitt Regional offers a rural rotation opportunity.

Lauren Willcox, General Surgery Resident from Emory University, offers insight into her experience during her tenure at Colquitt Regional Medical Center…

“So far, it has been great, I just started on Monday. The purpose of the rotation is to get a really good idea of what it is like to be a private practice or a small-town general surgeon. Emory is great in the fact that we get exposed to really complex high-volume surgery in patients that are often medically and surgically complex. Here in Moultrie, we’re fortunate enough to take care of patients that come in for more routine things, like hernia repairs, gallbladder surgery. So, this rotation has been really great, and we get to do some of what we call quote, “bread and butter” of general surgery,” said Lauren Wilcox, General Surgery Resident.

De’Andra Jacobs reporting.

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