The world of medicine is constantly evolving. Medical school is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a physician’s journey in the medical field, and physicians must continually grow, expand, and diversify to deliver quality care.

For aspiring doctors, elective rotations help build a solid clinical foundation and prepare physicians for independent practice in a medical specialty. Furthermore, practicing doctors often seek out Fellowships — specialized training in a specific field — and are committed to furthering their experience in that specialty to benefit patients.

Right here in South Lake Tahoe, Barton Health offers continued education to medical students, residents and fellows with the Graduate Medical Education Program, and to doctors wishing to specialize in sports medicine with the highly-desired Lake Tahoe Sports Medicine Fellowship.

As a rural hospital serving an active mountain community, the nature of our geographic location presents a high volume of orthopedics and trauma cases for eager students, offering unique opportunities for doctors pursuing careers/ specialties in orthopedics, general surgery, emergency medicine, and pediatrics. Highly-skilled and capable physicians are attracted to our region, in search of this experience coupled with a fulfilling outdoor lifestyle.

Elective rotations are two to six weeks in duration, depending on the specialty, and led by a qualified preceptor — a highly trained physician — of that specific field of medicine. The Lake Tahoe Sports Medicine Fellowship is one year long; orthopedics surgeons work with orthopedics surgeons from the Tahoe Orthopedics & Sports Medicine physician group and have unique opportunities to work in Barton’s simulation labs, fine tuning their surgical orthopedic experience.

Barton holds partnerships with academic institutions and participates in the training of their medical students and residents within a wide variety of clinical specialties, including University of California, Irvine, University of California, Davis, and University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine.

Strong ongoing partnerships with universities across two states demonstrates Barton’s reputation as a high-quality institution, in both the education opportunities, and the patient care delivered. Barton’s position as a Level III Trauma Center, plus partnerships with U.S. Ski and Snowboard and UC Davis Health further enriches these programs.

Barton is fortunate to have the strong infrastructure necessary and esteemed physicians who are willing to educate and prepare the next generation of caregivers for the dynamic healthcare environment. Higher educational experience leads to improved outcomes in all specialties and disciplines, advancing knowledge and clinical skill that directly benefits patients — building upon Barton’s commitment to delivering high-quality care and improving the health of our community.

Dr. Clayton Josephy is an Emergency and Critical Care Medicine physician and the Director of Graduate Medical Education at Barton Health. For more information on high-quality care and educational opportunities in healthcare, visit BartonHealth.org.