BUFFALO, N.Y. — This summer, General Physician P.C. is hosting a new internship for future medical professionals.
The paid 10-week program offers medical students the opportunity to get hands-on experience working in a Western New York medical office. It was created as a solution to office staffing issues during summer vacation season.
"We've been struggling to staff our offices, and we also know that there's a lot of students out there interested in either going into nursing, or PA, or nurse practitioner, or medical school." said Dr. Richard Charles, Chief Medical Officer and Internship Program Director at GPPC.
G.P.P.C's program is composed of 14 students pursuing careers as physician assistants, nurses, and doctors. Each intern is paired with a local office to assist other healthcare professionals and learn valuable medical skills.
The idea offers a win-win for everyone, with offices receiving additional support in the workplace and students getting to practice and advance their skills.
"As a med student, first and second year, mainly academic is what you make of it." said Max Hernandez, a rising second-year medical student at Jacobs School of Medicine. "You study a lot, but you don't get the big picture. You've got to take a step back and realize that this is what you're gonna do for the rest of your life, so it's been fun to see things in practice."
In addition to working experience, the program has also offered students the ability to network with potential colleagues and working professionals.
"You get to meet a lot of people that you're probably gonna be working with in the future and interact with patients hand-to-hand, in the room, doing actual things that benefit them." said Medjie Chery, also a rising medical student at Jacobs School of Medicine. "It's just so powerful because it's exactly what I want to do in the future."
Upon completing school, Dr. Charles hopes students in the program will consider applying for full-time positions in their Western New York offices. With a decline in the number of health care professionals, he believes the program can work to serve the Buffalo community as they seek to continue and expand it.
"We would really like to improve the health of the community, you know, and there's such a huge shortage of health care providers, physicians, PAs, nursing ... the more people we can get to stay in Buffalo, the better we can take care of our community in the future." Dr. Charles said.