We appreciate your interest in our Family Practice Residency Program in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Deciding on a location for your residency will be a task that will likely consume your thoughts for the next several months. With nearly 3000 positions in 500 family practice residency programs, there is really a "buyers market," and most everyone desiring a position in family medicine will get their first or second choice. For this reason, you should concentrate on choosing the program that best fits your needs for the type of practice you plan to enter, offering the skills you plan to use, but with an eye toward a well-rounded and complete training experience.

As you muddle through the vast amounts of information sent to you by prospective programs, remember a few basic points:

• Your fellow residents will be the most important parameter in your life over the next three years. Choose a group that works well together and seems happy.
• The interests and privileges of the faculty should be those that interest you for your future career.
• Learning all you need to know in family medicine is not accomplished without hard work—the easiest programs may not prepare you for your future needs.
• The NRMP match is a beautifully simple system that allows for the best possible placement for both the applicant and program. Don’t try to cut corners, make outside deals, or otherwise cheat the system. Those who would do so wouldn’t be good partners in your education for the next three years.

Our program is a hard working program with a very well rounded and complete curriculum, with a focus on training physicians for rural practice. We have an exceptional strength in our obstetrics training, with most of our full-time faculty having OB privileges and performing C-sections. We enjoy an excellent working relationship with our local obstetricians, who are on volunteer faculty. We have the opportunity to assist them in any C-sections performed at Sparks Regional Medical Center.  We also have a good working and teaching relationship with our other practicing physicians and hospitals, and enjoy good community support. We can also brag of a 99% pass rate on the board exam for our graduates.

As an unopposed program, we do not compete with other residencies for patient care opportunities or experience, so that the FP residents can maximize their exposure to the broadest spectrum of health care. We offer a good balance of didactic presentations: in addition to our general conferences daily at noon, we offer pediatric conferences four days a week, internal medicine conference once weekly, and high risk obstetrics once weekly for the residents on those services.

These are but a few of the strengths and advantages of our program. Please feel free to call or write for further information.

Jimmy Acklin, MD

Residency Director

Associate Professor of Family Medicine