YRMC’s Family Medicine Center opens at its new 8th Ave. location
Facility offers various medical services
Yuma Regional Medical Center has opened the new location of its Family Medicine Center which encapsulates a team of doctors completing the local residency program.
The new center is located at 2500 S. 8th Ave., Suite 200. It offers various medical services including preventative care, cold and flu, chronic disease management, pediatric care, women’s health, minor injuries, weight management, dermatology and mental health services.
Program director for Yuma Regional Medical Center Kristina Diaz said the center opened to the public at the end of August.
The Family Medicine
Center had previously been located within Tuscany Plaza. However, after assessing the need to move to a new location, YRMC staff and the hospital board made the decision to create the new facility with the goal of efficiency.
Diaz said the project has been a little over a year in the making.
“I personally was part of the presentation to present it to the YRMC board with Ricky Sanchez, who is one of the ex-vice presidents of the hospital,” she told the Yuma Sun. “The great part is that the key leaders of the program were able to participate in the process of making the layout. It really was a good, collaborative effort.”
Presently, Diaz said there are about 18 residents within the program who train at the Family Medicine Center. Residents are doctors who earned their medical degrees and need to complete on-the-job training in order to practice in their chosen specialty.
Each year, around six residents are accepted into the three-year program while about another six graduate. Since its onset two years ago, 11 residents have graduated from the program, Diaz said. She added the medical students have access to the Family Medicine Center.
The 16,072-square-foot facility has 36 exam rooms, up from 22 rooms at the previous location, said Rick Plummer, director of marketing and communications for YRMC. The facility features a check-in desk, a waiting room, electronic medical records and realtime monitoring systems.
“I think there is better care in an academic environment because there are several doctors at once,” Plummer noted. “Where else in the community do you have this type of environment where you have a learning, academic environment?”
Diaz explained many of the residents will work on a case with an attending physician, who will look at cases jointly.
“And, the cool thing about a resident is an intern can have up to an hour with you, really delving into what is going on with your current diagnosis or your current complaints that you don’t have a diagnosis for,” Diaz explained. “A second-year resident gets to spend 45 minutes with you and then a third year resident gets a half hour, which is a lot considering the time crunches that physicians really are under.”
Diaz, who also works as a medical doctor, said while the visit at the Family Medicine Center may be longer than a typical consultation at a doctor’s office, each patient at the center has more eyes on their case and more time spent in assessment.
“Even compared to my own clinic, it’s pretty robust and quick,” she stated. “The residents get the opportu-nity to really delve into the whys and the whats and really (go through) a good review of systems to figure what’s going on. But then you also get that person that’s reading literature on your case and really get-ting up-to-date, current, evidence-based medicine in-volved into your total care. Then, they go present it to another (attending physi-cian) who has a little bit more experience, so they get another take on it.”
The attending physicians, Diaz said, provide guidance and act as consults for the residents.
“You get kind of the new, excited resident who is look-ing up new evidence-based medicine intermingled with maybe 20 years of experi-ence as a community phy-sician,” Diaz added. “It’s not going to be a 10-minute visit, it’s going to a little bit longer of a visit because the resident will have a longer block of time for you. They also need to leave the room and discuss the case with their attending phy-sician who then will also come in and say hi and see you. Don’t be surprised if there are two doctors who poke their head in or actually sit down and see you during your visit with us.”
“Again, we are training future community physicians or future physicians in the country somewhere, and what a great opportunity to be a part of that,” Diaz added.
On the residents’ side of the spectrum, Diaz said a new, central location for training was needed. Along with attending physicians, the residents have access to four nurse practitioners, a doctor specializing in pediatrics and a “bullpen” area where residents can congregate, learn and consult with one another in a confidential setting — a feature not offered at the previous location, she said.
The new location is also closer to the hospital, which Diaz said provides residents easier access while they complete their rotations between the two facilities.
“Everybody gets a better learning experience because they are learning about somebody’s else’s patient as well as their own patient,” Diaz said. “It’s a good, collaborative area. The other facility just wasn’t built for us and for the needs of training residents as well as providing one big clinic with a central location. That location down there was definitely set up for lots of different clinics.”
Ultimately, Diaz said the purpose of the YRMC Family Medicine Center is to train, teach and provide ser-vices to the community.
For more information on the YRMC Family Medicine Center, call (928) 336-7095 or visit https://www.yumaregional.org/Medical-Services/Family-Medicine-Center.