By Linda Satter

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine welcomed 175 new medical students to its Little Rock and Fayetteville campuses in an Aug. 9 white coat ceremony attended by hundreds of friends, family and other well-wishers.

A tradition for incoming medical students, the ceremony followed a week of orientation before classes started Aug. 12.

It began with several distinguished speakers offering words of wisdom from the Robinson Center Performance Hall stage in Little Rock. Most of the students, who are starting medical school on the main campus, watched from the first several rows, while 19 freshmen at the Fayetteville campus participated through a live feed from the Schmieding Center in Springdale.

UAMS College of Medicine Welcomes 175 Students at Joint White Coat Ceremony in Little Rock, NWA

Members of the College of Medicine Class of 2028 recite the medical student oath before crossing the stage to don their white coats at Robinson Center Performance Hall. ***Image by Bryan Clifton***

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

Arkansas needs more doctors, but there haven’t been enough residency positions for new medical school graduates in the past three years, a study by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement found.

The ACHI study released Wednesday (Dec. 13) found the gap hit its high point in 2021 when there were only 309 residency positions for 431 graduates. The gap has narrowed somewhat since then. In 2022, there were 408 graduates, but only 341 residency positions were available. In 2023, there were 356 residency positions for 401 graduates.

The four prior years, there were more residency positions than graduates. In 2020, there were 264 graduates and 289 residency positions available for them. There were 163 graduates and 280 residency positions in 2019. In the prior two years, there were 159 graduates and 223 residency positions in 2018, and 160 graduates and 210 residency positions in 2017.

ACHI report says not enough residencies for med school grads