Medical education at Eugene bedsides.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

Jacob Meyer has one doctor and a whole hospital ward all to himself.

For a fourth-year medical student, that's pretty good. But as one of the first students to do rotations at Sacred Heart Medical Center, and the only one on the perinatal floor right now, he gets up close not only with patients but with doctors.

And not only doctors, but the attending physician instead of a resident, which doesn't usually happen at big-city hospitals.

"There's lots of advantages to being here," Meyer, a Eugene native, said Tuesday. "It's just a different environment. It's great clinically."

But it might not be long before students such as Meyer have more company. A joint program with Oregon Health & Science University, the University of Oregon and PeaceHealth aims to bring as many as 60 third- and fourth-year medical students to Eugene for four-week rotations in various medical specialties.

That's why Sacred Heart just opened its new Center for Medical Education and Research in remodeled space next to the hospital. It will give medical students a home base while they're doing clinical rotations in Eugene.

It's all part of an effort to deal with a looming shortfall of physicians as a large number of doctors reach retirement. Rather than build a new medical school, the state is trying to expand OHSU's incoming physician class by establishing educational and clinical programs at other universities and hospitals, starting in Eugene.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski has proposed spending $11.2 million on the program in his 2007-09 budget, which would include bringing first-year medical students to the UO starting in fall 2008. The budget increases overall state support of OHSU by 26.6 percent, to $94.2 million.

"The goal is to get more doctors in Oregon; that's the bottom line," said Dr. Vern Katz, a perinatal specialist who serves as a clinical instructor for fourth-year students at Sacred Heart. "There is a huge doctor shortage coming, and it's only growing as the population is aging."

The program will allow OHSU to expand the size of incoming physician classes to 160 from the current 120 with plans to eventually push the class to 200 students.

And other community groups are stepping up to help, led by a $1 million endowment fund from Oregon Community Credit Union announced Tuesday. The gift will provide $100,000 a year for 10 years for academic and personal support of student doctors training in Eugene, OCCU chief executive Mandy Jones said.

Katz said the program provides all sorts of benefits. Students not only get experience outside the Portland metro area - which could help attract future physicians to those places - but doctors also get the chance to work with students on a regular basis.

That ensures that doctors stay on top of the latest research, which also benefits patients.

Patients benefit in other ways, not the least of which is contributing to the important work of preparing new doctors. Katz said patients always are asked if they want to participate and don't have to allow students to take part in their care, but they rarely decline and often bond with the students.

"I've never had someone refuse," Katz said. "We've even had patients call back and ask for the student's address so they can ask how they're doing."