Ocean Medical Center to Become Teaching Hospital

Ocean Medical Center (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Ocean Medical Center has received approval to host physician residencies, Hacksensack Meridian Health, the hospital’s owner, said in a statement issued Tuesday.

The Brick-based hospital, which has gone through multiple expansions in recent years, will offer residencies in family medicine and psychiatry, the company said. The program was announced this week because the hospital just received initial accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for residency training programs.

“With this ACGME accreditation, Ocean Medical Center will become a premier community teaching hospital,’’ said Dean Q. Lin, regional president of Hackensack Meridian Health and president of Ocean Medical Center. “We face critical physician shortages in the areas of psychiatry and family medicine. Our ACGME-approved residency programs will help train the next generation of health care providers while increasing access to high-quality care for Ocean and Monmouth counties, the state’s two fastest growing counties.’’

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The hospital began its link to the medical education community several years ago, officials said. It is affiliated with Rowan University’s School of Osteopathic Medicine from which medical students complete their third year core curriculum through a variety of clinical clerkships at Ocean Medical Center.

Eight residents will be selected from more than 1,900 applicants for the family medicine program, which is a three-year training program. Six residents will be selected from more than 975 applicants for the psychiatry program, which is a four-year training program. Interviews are now complete and medical students who have registered will receive letters in March about their status. Resident applicants who have successfully matched with the Ocean Medical Center program will be awarded one of the 14 available positions. The inaugural class will start in July of 2018.

Hacksensack Meridian, as a whole, has become more intertwined in the state’s health system and will be a partner in a new medical school at Seton Hall University that is currently undergoing the accreditation process.