Rural Medical Education is about having more and better and longer staying rural physicians. Better selections of the right students can help with the more and better training can help with better and longer. For the evidence and details in this area try out Facilitating More and Better Rural Doctors
Rural medical education has demonstrated the ability to graduate more physicians for rural underserved areas. Just one example: With only 1% of the graduating medical students of the state and no special funding, Rabinowitz' Physician Shortage Area Program graduated 21% of the rural family physicians in Pennsylvania. Consider those rural folks who have access to physicians now, the rural hospitals that are still open and more stable, and the economic impact of these physicians. Figure also that each rural physician is worth $1 million in economic impact each year and 17 jobs for the community By the numbers: Rural Doctors and Rural Economies Many rural medical education programs with little or no funding have done much for rural people. Rural preceptorships are the best medical education in the nation Why a Preceptorship Is Better
About 10 - 12 percent of medical students demonstrate interest in serving in underserved areas. Rural Interested Students and lower income students (AAMC MQ 1996) who are interested in primary care have 40 - 60% interest levels in serving in underserved areas.
Logistic regression equations regarding complete populations demonstrate the necessary rural workforce solutions. Admissions not the most exclusive, health access training, family medicine career choice, older graduates, and policy to support Americans in need of basic health access primary care.
If any cancer or AIDS research demonstrated an improvement from 10% success to 60% success, and especially if this research had been peer-reviewed and published in JAMA or NEJM, medical leaders would be thrown out of office for not immediately adapting these "treatments".
The Rural Medical Educators Group has taken on the task of waking America to the needs of rural communities. These are some of the Top Priorities For More Rural Docs
The diagnosis is a shortage of rural physicians, the treatment is rural medical education, the success is documented in multiple programs over many states and many years. Therefore the problem is poor medical leadership and our task is to hold medical leadership accountable for implementing these models on a nationwide basis. For more comprehensive information with a number of programs and links, check out Models of Rural Medical Education. Admissions Package
Unfortunately the workforce trends are not good in Rural Medical Education. See chart, See problem areas. Some states face particular challenges regarding the delivery of care. Family medicine has had success (AAFP article by RCB).
Rural Curricula, Strategies, Guidelines Facilitating More and Better Rural Docs
Listing of the Best Ones - Until You Nominate Another!
Rural Medical Education Extends from well before high school out into rural practice. Rural medical education is a different type of curricula with different methods and goals. It is best described as a process for creating more and better rural physicians. Rural medical education often is at odds with leaders in allopathic medical education, yet some of the best quality allopathic training rotations are rural rotations. For an overview of the situation, try out The Current State of Rural Primary Care and the Role of Rural Faculty.
Strategies and other ideas are listed in the faculty pages..]
Many medical leaders would have you think that they are doing all that they can to graduate rural physicians. Most are doing all that they can to get dollars to medical centers for whatever reason. Clearly medical centers put primary care and rural practice low on the priority list. Graduating rural physicians is easy when the institution has true rural mission (WAMI paper, Bowman research). Students that will be rural physicians can be selected, encouraged, protected from urban influences, and supported. It is amazing that successful rural medical education models remain models. They should be undergoing widespread replication. The south and the midwest suffer greatly from the lack of rural medical education programming. These regions also have the most difficult time attracting family practice residents. Family medicine has had success (AAFP article by RCB) in graduating rural physicians. This success has leveled off..
For a comprehensive list of problems and solutions, consult the workforce web page.
Shortage areas persist for several reasons.
Changes in Rural Workforce Inevitable with Changes in Admission, Career Choice, Policy
www.physicianworkforcestudies.org