North Dakota Medicine

Happy fall, everyone!

Autumn is an exciting time on campus and I am happy to be part of the UND community as we celebrate new beginnings for many of our medical and health professional students. Many of our first-year students have been on campus for months now. Our new Physician Assistant (PA) and Master of Athletic Training students, for example, began back in May, while our M.D. Class of 2029 started in July.

Especially meaningful is this year’s M.D. class, which is the 51st collection of medical students we’ve hosted since North Dakota’s only school of medicine and health sciences transitioned from a two-year Bachelor of Science in Medicine degree to a four year Medical Doctorate 50 years ago, during the 1975-76 academic year. Our Minot and Bismarck Centers for Family Medicine are also celebrating their 50th anniversaries in the next year. These invaluable community resources have served hundreds of thousands of patients over the past half century.

It’s a great time to celebrate the history of the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) and to look toward the future of how we continue to influence healthcare in North Dakota. During the recent legislative session, we were able to share our vision of how SMHS can continue its mission “to serve North Dakota for the benefit of its people and to enhance the quality of their lives.”

Bringing this vision to life, we promise to work hard to recruit and retain students with direct connections to our state.

And while students with direct or indirect ties to North Dakota – many of whom grew up here – already constitute more than 90% of our M.D. Class of 2029, I am confident we can ensure that even more North Dakotans get to and through our medical school and health sciences programs.

Starting with our M.D. and P.A. programs, we’re inaugurating an effort to reach at least 85% for admitted and matriculated students with direct North Dakota ties by 2030. We’ll be expanding this effort to some our other health programs in the future.

There are several reasons for this effort.

First, North Dakota – like many other states – struggles with a health provider shortage. As our most recent Biennial Report notes, North Dakota is facing a shortage of at least 250 physicians overall right now, with some specialties finding themselves especially thin in the state. This means some North Dakotans must leave our state for specialty care.

The picture is similar in other health professions in the state, from nursing and PA to clinical psychology and physical and occupational therapy.

That said, the investment of the North Dakota legislature to fund the Healthcare Workforce Initiative allowed SMHS to double the number of resident trainees in the state. This investment has paid off: 79% of family medicine doctors and half of the physicians practicing in the state are our alumni.

As we celebrate these accomplishments, we have more work to do. Several rural areas in our state remain underserved. Whether we’re talking about medicine, nursing, or the allied health professions, our rural communities have healthcare access gaps.

Fortunately, the SMHS purpose commits us to filling these gaps.

Part of our answer to this challenge is to continue to grow our own providers and to find ways to incentivize our graduates to practice closer to home. We believe recruiting and graduating more North Dakotans increases the likelihood that these providers will practice in North Dakota in the future.

Another effort we’re pursuing is expanding medical residency programs in our state. Why? Because the data also shows that most physicians end up practicing close to where they train during their post-graduate medical residency. If a student receives their medical education and residency training within the state, there is a 75% chance they will stay in the state. That means that more medical residency programs in North Dakota translates into more physicians practicing in North Dakota in the long run.

Health policy also matters.

Using our PA program as an example, you maybe know that in 2019 North Dakota became the first state to allow physician assistants to practice without explicit physician oversight.

As long as the PA’s employer is a facility with a privileging and credentialing system, is licensed by North Dakota Health and Human Services, is physician-owned, and/or is an independent practice approved by the North Dakota Board of Medicine, PAs can see patients and prescribe necessary treatments. This legislation remains a game-changer for our critical access hospitals and rural clinics.

Our vision is that within five years, this school – along with our health system partners, legislators, and state agencies like North Dakota Health and Human Services, the North Dakota Academy of Family Physicians, the North Dakota Medical Association, and UND’s Center for Rural Health – will have helped reduce the state’s provider shortage.

It’s a heavy lift, but not an impossible one. Especially because we have the full support of UND President Andy Armacost, the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, and our many partners.

So although it can be difficult to predict the future, you can count on this commitment from all of us at SMHS: more and better healthcare for all North Dakotans.

This remains the guiding purpose of your medical school.

Marjorie R. Jenkins, M.D., M.Ed.H.P., FACP

Vice President for Health Affairs, UND
Dean, School of Medicine & Health Sciences