Medical residents OK’d for mental center

Beth Slovic

Monday, June 7, 2004 | 9:20 a.m.

Responding to what a state official called a growing crisis in Las Vegas' capacity for treating mentally ill patients, the Medical Examiners Board on Friday approved a measure that will allow third-year medical residents perform routine physicals at Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services.

The mental health center is currently overwhelmed by patients, said David Rosin, medical director of the Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services, the agency that overseas operations at the health center on West Charleston Boulevard.

Typically, residents in the University of Nevada Medical School's family practice program are not permitted to practice outside of the designated programs for which they annually receive licenses.

Rosin asked the medical board, the agency that regulates doctors and doctors' assistants, to consider granting limited licenses to medical residents. Doing so, he said, would help relieve the one physician who currently performs physicals at the center. The center must perform physicals on new patients and take their medical histories within 24 hours of their arrival at the center or risk losing its accreditation with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, a voluntary certification agency.

At the board's meeting Friday, Rosin said about 30 patients enter the health center daily. Some wait two or three days for a bed, he said. The center is currently in the process of increasing its capacity from 78 beds to 150.

The residents, Rosin said, would work only five hours a week, a limitation that relieved many members of the board. Cheryl Hug-English, the board's president, had expressed concern that additional work responsibilities would take away time that residents should be using for fulfilling the requirements of their residency program.

"This board has always felt that a residency should be the primary focus," Hug-English said.

Joel Lubritz, a board member, worried that third-year residents may not be qualified to perform physicals and take patients' medical histories, a task he called "the most important thing" doctors do.

Rosin said he and administrators at the medical school's family practice program would have the power to weed out unqualified third-year residents. Participants would likely earn about $40 an hour for their work, Rosin said.

The residents would not have the responsibility for the primary care of patients and would not be able to write prescriptions. The board would also require that the school register all of its participating students with the agency so that it knew exactly who was working at the center.

"I think this program is a good one," said Hug-English, referring to the family practice residency. Hug-English is also the associate dean for admissions and student affairs at the medical school.

Weldon Havins, the president of Clark County's medical society, characterized the city's present infrastructure for mental health services as "woefully inadequate." He said medical residents could help alleviate the problem by working at the health center.

"They would seem to be very qualified to do that," he said.