RUHS Welcomes 29 New Medical Residents with White Coats and Words of Wisdom

BANNING-BEAUMONT, CA - From the Riverside University Health System: Newly minted medical residents from across the country were welcomed Thursday by Riverside University Health System’s hospital and physician leaders in a “white coat ceremony” at the organization’s Moreno Valley-based Medical Center.

During the ceremony, new medical residents received the long white jackets they will wear while seeing patients. Chief residents for the five RUHS-sponsored residencies offered words of wisdom to their new colleagues, recalling their own early days as residents.

“Take care of your patients and take care of yourself. Know we are here for you and there is support throughout this hospital to help you. You are never alone” said Chief Resident Dr. Bryan Love, who is completing his sixth and final year in RUHS’s General Surgery program.

Dr. Daniel Kim, designated institutional officer for graduate medical education at RUHS, told the residents their white coats inspire trust from patients and a commitment to professionalism by those who’ve earned the right to wear them.

“Wear your coat with pride and with the heavy mantle of responsibility,” Kim told the group of young doctors, who recently graduated from medical schools such as Drexler, Brown, Howard, Loma Linda, New York, Penn State, Virginia Commonwealth and Western University.

For more than a century, RUHS has served as Riverside County’s primary graduate medical education and healthcare training institution. It currently sponsors five residency programs that support a total of 116 medical residents each year. On Thursday, those programs received 29 residents, including five in Anesthesiology, 12 in Family Medicine, six in General Surgery, three in Neurosurgery and three in Orthopaedic Surgery.

During the next year, hundreds of residents and medical students will perform clinical rotations through RUHS Medical Center through its own programs and in affiliation with schools of medicine at UC Riverside, Loma Linda and Western University. RUHS is also focused on expanding and adding other residency programs to meet the needs of a region that has a severe shortage of healthcare providers.

Last year, RUHS launched a Clinical Pharmacy program, where pharmacists are trained as physician extenders and play active roles in caring for patients throughout the Medical Center and clinics. The clinical pharmacy residency has four residents currently. Additionally, RUHS will train more than 2,000 registered nursing students and allied health professionals through numerous affiliations with colleges and universities in the region.

Image via Riverside University Health System