Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center is the teaching, flagship hospital of Banner Health, training some 220 physicians a year. Affiliated with the University of Arizona College of Medicine, the Banner Good Samaritan residency program has played a critical role in supplying physicians to Arizona, including 213 physicians who have established practices in the state in the past five years.
Patient care is enhanced at hospitals by major teaching programs. In fact, a study published in the March 2002 issue of the American Journal of Medicine stated that major teaching hospitals have a lower mortality rate when compared to both minor teaching and non-teaching hospitals. This conclusion was based on data collected from 366,964 patients admitted to 248 participating hospitals over a two-year period.
The study did not conclude why major teaching hospitals have lower mortality rates, but it is understood in the medical community that physicians who practice at such hospitals respond to an environment of learning and continuously update their knowledge and skills – a benefit to patients.
Teaching "Beds"
Many patient beds at Banner Good Samaritan are designated as "teaching beds" and are part the teaching program at the hospital. This means that the physician responsible for a patient's hospital care (a personal physician or a hospitalist) will include medical residents (training physicians) as part this care. These residents have completed their education and have received their medical degrees (M.D. or D.O.) from medical schools across the United States, and are now receiving comprehensive training in their chosen fields of specialty.
A resident physician or a group of resident physicians will work closely with these patients, their physicians, the nursing staff and other health professionals in planning, directing and providing patient care. These resident physicians staff the hospital on a 24-hour basis.
Banner Good Samaritan residency programs include the following five core programs:
- Combined Medicine-Pediatrics
- Family Medicine
- Internal Medicine
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Psychiatry
- Surgery
- Orthopaedic Surgery
Programs following residency graduation for further training and board certification in sub-specialties include:
- Cardiology
- Endocrinology
- Gastroenterology
- Geriatrics
- Interventional Cardiology
- Maternal-Fetal Medicine
- Pulmonary Medicine
- Toxicology
- Residency Program Clinics
Primary Care Centers Associated with Medical Education: