WSU medical school granted initial accreditation for graduate education

Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine has received initial accreditation for graduate medical education.

The initial accreditation allows the college to begin developing and sponsoring residency and fellowship training programs.

Graduate medical education is the three- to seven-year phase of education following graduation from medical school. It prepares physicians for independent practice in a specialty. About 43 percent of medical school graduates will practice in the state where they graduate, but that number jumps to 70 percent when they complete both their medical education and their residency in the same state.

John Tomkowiak, founding dean of WSU’s College of Medicine, said the initial accreditation is a milestone in the school’s mission to improve health care in rural and underserved Washington communities.

“It offers increased opportunity to build residency programs in more communities east of the Cascades where they’re needed most,” he said.