Ten students specializing in internal medicine, three specializing in general surgery and six for the new psychiatry program will continue their medical training at Willis Knighton Health beginning July 1. The medical students received the news Friday during Match Day, an annual rite of passage for the medical students as they learn where they have been accepted for training for the next three to seven years.

Before doctors can be board certified and treat patients on their own, they must complete a residency program in their chosen specialty. Organizations that train residents take on tremendous responsibility to guide the growth of these doctors and provide knowledge, skills, and abilities to be successful in their future practice.

“We are thrilled that we have filled all of our residency positions through Match this year,” said Luke B. Nelson, director of Graduate Medical Education at Willis Knighton Health. “Matching these positions indicates that we were the preferred choice for these candidates, and they decided to complete their medical training at Willis Knighton Health. We can’t wait for them to arrive and begin working with our current residents and faculty.”

Internal medicine residents will train for three years under the supervision of experienced physicians to improve their skills in the full spectrum of internal medicine, including outpatient medicine, inpatient medicine, critical care, and rotations in all the major subspecialities of internal medicine. They will practice primarily at Willis Knighton Medical Center North but will rotate at other Willis Knighton locations.

Surgical residents will train for five years and complete rotations primarily at Willis-Knighton Medical Center North and Willis Knighton Bossier but will also rotate at other Willis Knighton hospitals. The general surgery specialty, as well as subspecialty surgery, will include an enhanced focus on robotic and minimally invasive surgery.

This will be the inaugural cohort of psychiatry residents. The residency program with Brentwood Hospital of Shreveport was approved in February. The psychiatry residents will train at Willis Knighton Health and Brentwood for four years, completing rotations in psychiatry, psychiatry subspecialties, internal medicine, neurology, and elective experiences. Graduates of the program will possess sound clinical judgment, requisite skills, and a high order of knowledge about the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of all psychiatric disorders, together with other common medical and neurological disorders that relate to the practice of psychiatry.