Rural Student Interest Groups: PREPARE for Rural Practice
This page is for students in health professions schools but it does include advice and information for all level students, if you are preprofessional, try PreProfessional Advice and Information
A growing number of Family Practice Interest Groups at medical schools across the nation are setting up rural branches. Other rural groups are springing up from among the students themselves. The groups often involve physician assistant students and others. A primary goal of these groups is to provide information that would help students PREPARE for rural practice. Some groups organize around practice experiences, some provide information to rural high school students about health careers, others do health fairs in rural communities and other service projects. All of these methods PREPARE students for rural practice. Many rural-interested students recognize two important areas:
I will not be going to rural practice unless I set my own course and prepare well.
It is a good idea for those students interested in rural practice to work together to recruit high school and other students into health careers so that I can have a colleague or a replacement in coming years. Hope: Students From and for the Underserved
Character, Color, Admissions, and Physicians
Is Medicine a Higher Calling?
Service Orientation
Restoration of Communities, Nations: Role of Rural Family Docs, Make no small plans
Rural Emphasis Family Practice Residency Listing at NRHA
Presentations by rural practitioners and by students in the rural interest group. Practicing role models are living proof that rural practice is not only possible, but desirable. Students from rural towns are role models for rural middle and high school students that they too can make it! PRIME Project Introduction and Endorsement Faculty who have been rural docs Facilitating More and Better Rural Docs can present information on career preparation and overcoming obstacles to rural practice . Government representatives from the National Health Service Corps or the state office of rural health can give updates on scholarships and loan repayments. Other talks can highlight the clinical or procedural variety, cultural aspects (Native American, different types of rural towns), or the role of the rural doc in the community. Family practice and rural associations have listings of speakers. For the best speakers and presentation, check out the rural presentation at the AAFP Student-Resident Meeting in KC each year. Dr. Bob Boyer is a top speaker for any rural medical student group. To contact him or other rural speakers in your area, email [email protected]. Why not try out the handout on this web, Rural Training in Family Medicine? Copy and print it for those attending. It describes the value of training in rural areas and in rural programs.
Rural experiences Visits during holidays, breaks, or weekends can provide information and recreation. Some of the best rural medical schools have students visit rural doctors just prior to beginning medical school or other times during the first year. Other rural opportunities include visiting farms, dairies, or plants to examine occupational hazards. Hiking, camping, and canoeing are other possibilities to round out the visit. Service programs such as the NHSC SEARCH program or The North Carolina Student Rural Health Coalition are also excellent. Senior students have some excellent possibilities such as the Appalachian Preceptorship
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ncouragement Students need time to discuss some of the obstacles facing a rural career. Other students, practitioners, or faculty have faced the same difficulties. Academic health centers are guaranteed to try to tear you down, change your very being, or change your mind about careers. Make sure you are doing what your dream is, what your calling is, not what someone else thinks is a good use of your time. Students preparing for rural practice need to build confidence in their decision-making and support allows them to reach out. Rural Training in Family Medicine describes this well.P
ursuing Information Students must have information about rural experiences, rural-oriented residency programs, financial information, and more. Students need to know when state and national rural conferences will be held. The National Rural Health Association is a good source. Try their web site or (816) 756-3140. Rural Medical Educators have organized and can be found at the Rural Medical Educators Group. You are welcome to join their list serve. AAFP is another source at (800) 274-2237. Also state offices of rural health can be a source in your state for rural information, experiences, projects, loan repayments, or good speakers.A
dvisors PREPARE groups can match rural-interested students to rural physicians or faculty. Many practitioners do a good job of "adopting" students. Rural faculty can also take students on rural visits. A dedicated "rural" person is a good contact point.R
ural Coordinators Staff can be most helpful to students attempting to manage a group. They help with speakers, preparations, pizza, and more. Communication between groups is essential because rural health is so broad. Students in Family Practice Interest, PREPARE, American Medical Student Association, American and National Medical Student Associations, and Christian Medical and Dental Society groups all share overlapping interests and members. The groups need not compete as they can share speakers, information, and services. About Coordinators Also coordinators can help students understand why doctors complain and why primary care and rural experiences seem to have so much of this. See Latest Research on Complaining PhysiciansE
ducation Through Service This is the best education. Dr. Jeff Hill, dean of admissions, has taken a group of students to Jamaica each year during spring break. According to him, the week is a good confirmation for many of the students interested in careers involving rural health or service to the underserved. Jamaica and SAGH For some info on service-learning, contact Campus Community Partnerships for Health. Health fairs, high school career fairs, talks with college groups, and community projects are all good ways to get involved. Similar activities by students in past decades have resulted in improved health for many rural communities as projects became Community Health Centers in New Mexico, Virginia, and other states. Student Interest ProjectsPrepared for Rural Students and Residents by Robert C. Bowman, M.D. (402) 559-8873 or [email protected]
Other Rural Student Interest Group Sites Back to main rural medical education site.
As Bob Boyer, first AAFP Doctor of the year, states in his discussions with medical students interested in rural family practice,
"I may be naïve, but I still think that a career in rural family medicine offers the best opportunity for the best doctors to be at their very best and have fund doing it and find those moments where you too will be dear and glorious."
See Dr. Boyer's presentation at Dr. Robert Boyer in streaming video
One of the important tasks that you will have is to understand how to help your town in several areas. You will not be alone in this task. In fact, if you study this area now you can do much even before you go to a rural practice Why There Are Few Young Adults in Rural America
