Verby JE The Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP) Minnesota Medicine March 1983 p 181
Summary
A crucial part of RPAP is the relationship between the student and preceptor. This includes the time and support. The preceptor antes up $5000 and the state another $5000 for student stipend. Major impact on improvement in student selection for family medicine with 35% of the MN class of 240 choosing Family Medicine. The direct cost to the medical school is significantly less. No differences in National Boards 1 or 2 and 19 points better than peers in public health. Specialty faculty visits enhance. Videotaping of students 3 - 4 times a year
"This massive classroom of 84,000 square miles and its long term experience for junior medical students has been a remarkable phenomenon, not duplicated anywhere in the world to our knowledge. Even more impressive is the battallion of practicing physicians and helping professionals (over 500) who have given hundreds of thousands of hours of free instruction, over 2 million dollars in stipends to the students, absorbed all liability for the acts of service by these students, and accepted the fact that there is no commitment on the part of the student to return to rural areas of Minnesota of the USA. The citizens of Minnesota have been truly blessed with many "freebees" from this program, which has been successful in physician redistribution. The biggest challenge for the future will be to sustain and maintain this effort."