Piedmont Columbus Regional has announced the graduation of 44 residents across its Nurse, Family Medicine, and Pharmacy residency programs. This is good news, especially for underserved rural areas outside of Columbus.
As Now Georgia has previously reported, the shortage in these fields is critical with 143 out of 159 Georgia counties designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). This means there are at least 3,500 patients for every one provider.
If current trends continue, Georgia will fall short of its projected registered nurses need by 23,000, meaning 1 in 5 positions will be unfilled by 2036. The picture is even worse for doctors: The state will only have about two-thirds of the doctors it needs in a decade, according to theNational Center for Health Workforce Analysis…