Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Barrow is proud to announce the addition of resident physicians to its Emergency Department staff, starting this July.

Resident physicians are licensed doctors training in a specialty. They train for three to 10 years after medical school, providing patient care and performing procedures under the supervision of more experienced faculty physicians.

“There will be one resident per month rotating at NGMC Barrow, and they are grateful to serve this growing community,” said Josh Mugele, MD, program director of the Emergency Medicine Residency program at NGMC. “Having more trained people focused on your care is a good thing, and having these resident physicians involved in the Emergency Departments at our other hospitals in Braselton and Gainesville has been very successful.”

“Our mission is improving the health of our community in all we do,” said John Neidenbach, administrator for NGMC Barrow. “We’ve made tremendous strides improving our delivery emergency care over recent years and adding Emergency Medicine residents to our Emergency Department care team is a win-win for the residents of Barrow County. These physicians are equipped with the latest clinical education and will work side-by-side with our attending physicians and experienced staff so that patients in our community will benefit from more eyes on their care.”

The first Emergency Medicine resident physician at NGMC Barrow will be Abby Banks-McClelland, MD, a senior resident from the Atlanta area. Dr. McClelland went to medical school in Greenville, South Carolina.

“I’m very excited to rotate at NGMC Barrow,” said Dr. McClelland. “A huge part of our training is serving the community in a variety of ways – of course with great patient care, but also to be an advocate for those who need our help. It’s an honor to be the hospital’s first resident physician, and I’m excited to have more of my colleagues start helping patients in Barrow County.” 

NGMC Barrow is the Georgia Association of Community Hospitals’ current “Small Hospital of the Year,” an award that recognizes a facility that has made extraordinary strides and exhibited exceptional achievement within its health system and community. Earlier this year, the hospital also received the first-ever High Reliability Organization (HRO) Foundation Award from Press Ganey – a national company focused on improving health care – for having zero serious safety events in over a year and zero adverse clinical events like hospital-acquired infections, pressure injuries or falls resulting in injury. The award is given to just one health system each year.

Learn more at nghs.com/barrow.