Ochsner Lafayette General launches residency program to address shortage of surgeons (2024)

Overlooking the city from the fourth floor of Ochsner Lafayette General, much of the hospital’s new 17,000 square foot residency center is yet to be finished and furnished. But once completed, as many as 70 physicians could be training there, according to Regional Medical Director Dr. Amanda Logue.

“They can get feedback on their technique, they can get practice, they can get oversight,” Logue said of the surgeons who will be practicing their craft in the simulation rooms that are expected to fill the still-empty space where a ribbon cutting was held Tuesday.

Just beyond the unfinished walls, the first phase of the new residency center has already been completed and will be home to the inaugural class of three surgeons to make Lafayette General their residency home base.

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The hospital already serves as a training site for physicians from Louisiana State University’s medical school in New Orleans, but the three surgeons-in-training hailing from Slidell, Baton Rouge and Pensacola will be the first class to make Lafayette General their permanent home for the full five years of their residency.

Having permanent residents allows the hospital more flexibility and control over their training, Logue said. “Some people have compared it to being grandparents versus being parents,” she said of the difference between permanent and temporary residents.

The hope is that, once the surgeons have completed their training, they won’t just fly the coop, but stay in Acadiana to fill the growing need for surgeons, especially in rural areas, Logue noted. Eventually, the hospital is hoping to expand the program beyond surgery, depending on the specialties most in demand locally.

“We’re trying to look at, not only what do we have the volume to serve, but what does the community need,” Logue said. Surgery, she noted, was a natural place to start because of the high patient volume in need of surgical care.

“This is crucial for us — we need surgeons,” said Dr. Ziad Ashkar, designated institutional officer of graduate medical education, who will be part of the program’s new leadership team.

The AAMC projects that by 2036, the United States will be short 86,000 physicians, with up to a quarter of that shortage made up by surgeons. Louisiana is expected to find itself at the top of the list nationwide in its need for surgeons, Ashkar noted.

The first three residents are expected to start in June, with the next phase of the residency program’s physical phase anticipated to be completed next summer.