BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
SCOTT PILLING staff Dr. Kenneth W. Faistl, medical director of CentraState Medical Center’s new family medicine residency program, discusses the goals of the initiative. FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — CentraState Medical Center is bringing back something most people may have thought they would never see again — the family doctor.
The medical center has just been named a teaching facility and the first group of doctors to be trained will be those with a residency in family medicine.
Hospital officials announced the news at a dedication ceremony held April 22 at CentraState Healthcare System’s Family Medicine Center, Route 537. The Family Medicine Center currently cares for patients who do not have insurance or those who cannot afford private medical care.
The family medicine residency program will operate in conjunction with the University of Medicine and Dentistry-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, beginning July 1. Up to six residents per year will participate in a three-year rotation that will include training at the Family Medicine Center, in various departments at the hospital and at the offices of private physicians who are on staff at Centra State Medical Center.
Those attending the event included John T. Gribbin, president and CEO of CentraState Healthcare System; Anthony J. Caprio, chairman of the CentraState Healthcare System Board of Trustees; Dr. Benjamin Weinstein, senior vice president and medical director of the CentraState Healthcare System; Dr. Kenneth W. Faistl, medical director of the family medicine residency program; Dr. Michael O. Fleming, board chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians; and Monmouth County Freeholder Ted Narozanick.
Gribbin said there will be two tremendous benefits from the new family medicine residency program.
“First, the community gains increased access to family medicine in our service area. Second, the act of teaching will make our highly skilled staff physicians, nurses and other clinicians even sharper,” he said.
Gribbin said all of the members of the Board of Trustees are “firmly committed to programs like this one that lead directly to the improved health and wellness for area residents.”
Hospital officials said the family medicine residency program will cost about $2.5 million per year.
Caprio said the medical center was able to make this investment in the future health of the community because the CentraState Healthcare System is financially stable and thriving.
“It is an investment we expect to pay huge dividends in the form of improved health for thousands of people for years to come,” he said.
Fleming said, “From the focus on the patient rather than the process, to the high-tech upgrades at this facility, CentraState is doing it right.” He said the new program is a model for family medicine nationally.
According to CentraState Healthcare System officials, medical schools in New Jersey and nationally report declining enrollment in family medicine programs. Research also indicates that more than half of medical school residents join a practice or open the own practice in the communities where they train. Hospital officials are banking on that fact as they seek to increase the number of family physicians in the area.
Faistl said the CentraState Healthcare System and a family medicine residency program were a “perfect fit.” He said family physicians offer “front-line care” from birth to the end of life. He noted that only eight other hospitals in New Jersey offer a family medicine residency program.
Faistl said physicians in training will be supervised by six faculty members. They will train in the hospital and in the outpatient areas, as well as in nursing homes and by accompanying doctors on house calls.
Faistl emphasized the need for more family physicians, stating that with the advent of so much specialization, much of today’s medical care is “fragmented and not coordinated.” The residency program will attempt to address that issue with patient-centered care and the elimination of barriers to access, as well as with electronic health care records.
Toward that goal, the family medicine residency program will offer what he termed a paperless office.
“The technology that allows us to operate a paperless office is significant. There are few physician practices on the east coast that are this high tech, but the most important element of our operation will be our focus on the patient, or what we call family-centered care,” Faistl said.
The Family Medicine Center has undergone extensive remodeling over the last few months in order to accommodate the family medicine residency program. Computers have been placed in every examining room so that doctors may document the results of their interaction with patients.
Patient records will be available at the hospital through the computer network should the patient require treatment at that facility, Faistl said.
Doctors who choose to practice in this program will return to a time when physicians treated the entire patient, not just one of his or her body parts.
According to Faistl, the advent of technology and so much specialization has taken away something very important from patient care — the ability for a doctor to really know a patient completely. Specialization has also taken away what most patients thrived on years ago — the faith and trust in a doctor who knew them so well. The new initiative at CentraState will seek to bring some of that feeling back.