Continuing longstanding efforts to bolster
emergency medicine and trauma care physician residency training, Texas’
legislators have pumped more grant financing into graduate medical school
programs across the state.
“I want to brag about Texas, and say
Texas needs to keep [the grants] growing,” said Woodson “Scott” Jones, MD, vice
dean of graduate medical education at the UT Health San Antonio Long School of
Medicine. “We can’t lose momentum here.”
As a member of the Texas Medical
Association’s Council on Medical Education, Dr. Jones added, “If you learn it
here, you’re more likely to stay and practice here.”
On July 28, Gov. Greg Abbott announced 24
grants totaling $5.8 million would be
allocated to graduate medical and nursing schools to continue or expand
training in emergency and trauma programs over the next two years.
Nearly
$4.3 million of the total was awarded to seven
medical schools and four teaching hospitals, mostly to fund residencies in
emergency medicine but also a few fellowships in acute care surgery, pediatric
emergency medicine, and surgical critical care medicine. The remaining funds are
split equally among four nursing graduate programs.
The grants were started in 2011 by the
Texas Legislature, which established the Emergency and Trauma Education
Partnership. “Texas doctors and nurses ensure patients have access to
lifesaving care when it matters most,” Gov. Abbott said in a statement announcing
the grants.
And by all accounts, Texas has enough
medical students and physicians willing to go into emergency medicine. This
spring, all 216 emergency medicine residency positions in the state were filled on Match Day, the first time 100% of positions filled on Match Day for this
specialty since 2020. More residency positions were available this year, up by
15 or 7.5% from 2025.
Those who attend medical school and
complete their residency or fellowship training in the state of Texas are more
than 80% likely to stay and practice here, Dr. Jones says.
To learn more about what TMA is doing
to grow the future of the Texas physician workforce, log onto our Workforce page.