Second-year medical students Brian Gebhardt (from left), Shavonda Thomas and George Miller have said they want to study at the MCG School of Medicine’s Southwest Georgia Clinical Campus in Albany. The opportunity to learn patient care in Southwest Georgia is creating quite a buzz among Medical College of Georgia medical students.

“We’re excited by their interest,” Dr. Linda Boyd, associate dean for regional campus coordination at the MCG School of Medicine, said of the busload of students who strike out for Albany and Tifton Jan. 22.

While it’s too early to know the full impact, the fact that 24 out of a class of 190 students want a first-hand look at the campus bodes well for helping address physician shortages in the state, she said. Georgia ranks 40th in the number of physicians per capita nationwide, according to the American Medical Association, with a particular dearth of primary care physicians in rural areas.

Eleven MCG students already have committed to spending a majority of their third and possibly fourth year of medical school learning alongside physicians in that corner of the state. They, along with 13 others considering the possibility, will spend Jan. 22-23 meeting with clinical faculty and touring

Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, the base of the Albany campus, as well as Tift Regional Medical Center in Tifton to learn more about medical practices, facilities and teaching philosophies in that part of the state.

The School of Medicine opened the Southwest Georgia Clinical Campus, which spans from Columbus to Valdosta, in 2005 to expand clinical education opportunities for students and showcase future practice opportunities.

In November, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting body for U.S. medical schools, said the campus is on track for becoming a two-year residential clinical campus this summer enabling up to 20 students to live and learn in that part of the state for much of their clinically-intensive third and fourths years. MCG School of Medicine officials say up to 20 third-year students can be based at the Albany campus come July.

Last year more than 200 MCG medical students completed one or more clinical rotations in Southwest Georgia, working with physicians for four- to six-week stints in specialties including family medicine, pediatrics, surgery and obstetrics-gynecology. Residential campus status will enable students to spend a lot more time in a medically under-served area of the state, said Dr. Iqbal Khan, the campus’ assistant dean. Students will spend most of their third year based in Albany while the fourth year is more of a “grab bag” that could put them all over the state, including back in Augusta, Dr. Boyd said.

“The physicians and hospital leadership in this part of the state have been tremendously supportive of our medical students and our students have responded in kind,” Dr. Khan said, noting the school’s affiliation agreements with 15 hospitals and clinics in Southwest Georgia, including Moultrie and Columbus. “Everywhere we have traveled we have found interest and enthusiasm,” he said.

“We’re excited about the overwhelming interest in Phoebe by the students,” said Dr. Doug Patten, senior vice president of medical affairs at Phoebe Putney. ”Clearly, word has spread from students who’ve completed rotations here of the benefits of coming to Phoebe to get medical experience. Phoebe’s leadership is committed to providing the resources to develop a facility for students to have a quality learning environment during their stay in Albany,” Dr. Patten said.

A former middle school across the street from Phoebe Putney will be ready in March to serve as a permanent home for the campus complete with office space, student cubicles, an electronic classroom and conference room. The hospital, which is leasing the building to MCG, also is building a student lounge adjacent to the doctors’ lounge. Since the campus’ inception, MCG medical students have been provided two free meals daily at the doctors’ lounge and free nearby housing for those in the area for a few weeks completing rotations.

The Southwest Georgia Campus is part of an overall plan to increase the MCG School of Medicine’s class size from 190 to 300 students by 2020 to help meet the need for physicians in a state that ranks in the top 10 both in population and population growth, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The statewide plan includes a second clinical campus, Southeast Georgia Clinical Campus based at St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System in Savannah, which is slated for residential campus designation in coming years, and a four-year campus for 40 students in Athens in cooperation with the University of Georgia that opens this fall. The medical school class size is scheduled to increase from 190 to 240 in Augusta and 40 to 60 in Athens by 2020. Facilities to accommodate the larger class in Augusta are under design.