Residency for family physicians in training offers variety

Hannah Wheeler is entering her second year of a three-year residency at Kootenai Health. 

A Montana native, she happened upon the residency program while attending the Medical College of Wisconsin and saw a way to reconnect with her Coeur d’Alene roots. 

“My great grandparents were actually family physicians in the area here for 40 years, so I had that background seeing what rural doctors could do,” Wheeler said. 

Because of the doctor shortage in the state, there is a need for family physicians in Idaho to experience a range of medical practices, something that Wheeler saw as a learning opportunity. 

“People can find their niche, prenatal care or sports medicine,” Wheeler said. “With that exposure as time goes on you can figure out where you want to focus and figure out what your practice may look like.”

Legislators considered expanding state incentives for undergraduate medical education earlier this year, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. Currently, the Idaho WWAMI program partnership includes Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.    

Wheeler has recently been working with a clinical pharmacist to learn how to navigate different types of insurance and identify pathways to ensure they receive the best possible care. 

“With a faculty with such a broad range of interests, this residency allows us to be able to delve deeper into the broad range of concerns that our patients have and then be able to train in a lot of settings with our specialists here at the hospital and work in tandem with them,” Wheeler said. 

Wheeler has worked with some rural communities across the state to understand their needs better while concentrating most of her time in Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint and Spokane for pediatric experience.  

She has been excited to learn more about the context of medical cases and to see what higher-acuity issues look like firsthand. 

Wheeler also worked with EMTs to identify how family physicians can better address gaps in care. 

“What are things we can do in primary care especially when we’re working in a place where people have to drive a lot further to see a specialist,” Wheeler said.