Page 19 - Delaware Medical Journal - July/August 2019
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DIMER
In all, since the inception of DIMER, more than 1,200 Delawareans have completed medical school at our partnering institutions. Among those students are Janice E. Nevin, MD, MPH, the President and CEO of Christiana Care Health System, and Kara Odom Walker, MD, the Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. Clearly, the program has made an impact across the board, including in key leadership positions.
While this program has been extremely successful, it hasn’t always been without hiccups. In June of 2016, due to a budget process snafu, the funding for DIMER was eliminated on the last day of the support from the medical community, including the Medical Society of Delaware, the Delaware Hospital Association, countless health care stakeholders, and of course the dedicated legislators who recognized the vital importance of this program, the funding was restored and DIMER continued.
In order for the DIMER partnership with SKMC and PCOM to continue to grow, more than $1,250,000 are allocated in the state budget annually. This funding is minor compared to other states in the western part of the country that have similar programs. It is our hope that DIMER can continue to expand to open the doors to more Delaware students.
The fundamentals of the current DIMER agreement are similar to 50 years ago:
by the State to partnering institutions in order to provide medical education to
The DIMER class spanning both institutions (SKMC and PCOM) is year class ever! Christiana Care Health System serves as a hub and a branch
Left to right: Nicholas Jennelly, fourth-year SKMC; Michael Gerges, fourth-year PCOM; Navneet Mann, fourth-year PCOM
campus for SKMC and PCOM. This allows medical students to receive the second half of medical school education (third and fourth year) in Delaware. Indeed, several students who choose to come to the Delaware Branch Campus are DIMER students, but the campus
is open to all students from SKMC and PCOM.
In another boon to Delaware’s medical training, it was recently announced
that in the summer of 2019, PCOM will begin rotations for medical students at Bayhealth, both in Dover and at the new campus in Milford. Bayhealth will also begin residencies in Family Medicine and Internal Medicine in the near future, which are expected to contribute to the Delaware workforce.
Currently, three other institutions
are providing residency education
in Delaware: Christiana Care Health System, Nemours, and St. Francis Hospital. Many of those entering residency in Delaware are former DIMER students, and thus they can complete the arc of their training locally.2
While an in-state medical school is how most states in the U.S. provide education, and indeed this has been discussed since DIMER’s inception, it is worth noting that DIMER provides the most economical 3 DIMER is Delaware’s “medical school” with a current budget of less than $2 million annually. The DIMER program and
the Delaware Branch Campus program currently provide the full medical school curriculum, prior to residency.
In the last two years, DIMER (through
the Delaware Health Care Commission) has partnered with the Delaware Health Sciences Alliance (www.dhsa.org).
educational institutions and health systems in the region.4 This partnership has allowed a renewed focus on recruiting, retention, and data gathering in order to alleviate Delaware’s current and future physician workforce needs.
It should be mentioned that there are also some scholarship opportunities for qualifying DIMER students. At the time of this article, approximately $175,000 is
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