Residency Training Program at Confederate on Probation

              12-A Sunday, August 22, 1971 THE SHREVEPORT TIMES
Staff, Facility Shortages Cited
Residency Training Program
At Confederate on Probation
By Margaret Martin
Times Medical Writer
The residency training pro-gram
in internal medicine at
Confederate Memorial Medical
Center has been placed on
probation and officials given
until Dec. 10 to s u b m i t a
progress report on deficiencies
listed by the accrediting agency.
Dr. Eleanor Blish, of Houston,
Tex., who represents the com-mittee
made up of the Board of
I n t e r n a l Medicine and the
American Council on Medical
Education, which is part of the
American Medical Association,
made the inspection.
Notification of the probation-ary
status came to Dr. Marion
Hargrove, head of the depart-ment
and assistant dean of the
Louisiana State University Med-ical
School at Shreveport in a
letter from George Mixter Jr.,
secretary of the residency re-view
committee.
The three deficiencies are:
1. The program d i r e c t o r ,
because of a depletion of staff,
carries far too great a load, the
letter said.
2. Because of the lack of a
coronary care unit, pulmonary
function laboratory and "many
speciality facilities one would
expect to find in a modern
teaching program."
3. B e c a u s e the outpatient,
clinic "is greatly overloaded
and under the circumstances
completely impossible as a
teaching resource."
Hargrove said he has talked
to both Confederate Hospital
Director Dr. Edgar Galloway
and LSU Medical School Dean
Dr. Edgar Hull "and they want
to do what they can to correct
the deficiencies."
Confederate Board Directors
building and grounds chairman
Dr. George Woolhandler pointed
out that the board has been
concerned with the two building
problems for several years and
they are already being correct-ed.
Referring to the outpatient
c l i n i c criticism, Woolhandler
said that bids have already been
taken and presently are being
negotiated for a new facility.
In the planning stages is a
new intensive care unit for the
facility, and in the future are
plans for the pulmonary care
lab.
Hargrove said he wouldn't
speculate on what the other
"special facilities" might in-clude
but pointed out that the
Department of Medicine had a
kidney specialist on board now
and a dialysis laboratory will
become a part of the depart-ment
in the near future.
As for the shortage of person-nel,
Hargrove said that he had a
promise from "Dean Hull that
he is in complete sympathy with
our needs and will do what he
can to help."
T h e r e are presently three
other full-time personnel in the
department — the kidney spe-cialist,
an endocrinologist and a
hematologist.
Hargrove emphasized that the
program is still approved for
three years of training," and
the four residents presently in
the program will get full credit
for their work.
Woolhandler predicted t h a t
"as time goes on, more and
more training programs will
have a raise in standards. We
(Confederate Board of Direc-tors)
hope to beat the transition
period to the medical school."
Hargrove said that the board
has been extremely cooperative
"and has done everything to
help correct the deficiences."