Tulane's new program is one of only a handful nationwide designed to train doctors for rural areas and inner cities where there's a shortage.
One of the first -- and the model for Tulane -- was set up in 1974 by Jefferson Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Graduates of that program are eight times more likely than other med school graduates to become rural family doctors, says Dr. Howard K. Rabinowitz, its director since 1976.
Over 30 years, the program has graduated just 350 students, but most stay in rural medicine: A study of the first nine classes found that 80 percent were still country doctors. Most were in Pennsylvania, some in other states.
"Most of them are well-established with their families and their lives in these communities," he said.
In contrast, almost half of all doctors who are lured to needy areas with medical school scholarships or help paying off their college loans leave such areas after their time is up.
Shortage of doctors in rural areas
Though nonmetropolitan areas saw a growth in the rate of physicians, shortages remain in these rural areas that account for about one-fifth of the U.S. population.
SOURCE: General Accounting Office/AP
|
Part of it is the culture shock illustrated in the TV show "Northern Exposure," about a New Yorker sent to the tiny Alaskan town that paid his medical school tuition.
"I call our program the opposite of Northern Exposure," Rabinowitz says. He looks for people who love the life to start with.
"If they didn't do rural family practice, they would probably go into another profession like teaching or health care or something in a small town," he said.
But family practice is a dwindling choice among U.S. medical school graduates. Overall, the number taking family practice internships has fallen by nearly half since 1996.
One reason, says Tulane's Streiffer, is that city kids are more likely to get into medical schools. And, by and large, they want to work in or near cities.
"Private schools like Tulane and others are much more likely to look at students who come from certain universities. Those don't usually include the smaller colleges where rural students tend to stay," he said.
Those students may not have the grades that most medical schools demand, or the top scores on the standardized Medical College Admission Test.
In addition, medical schools are in cities, and it's often hard to resist the appeal of the large multispecialty urban setting, some experts say.
To help them, the Jefferson Medical program has mentors, special courses about rural family medicine, and several monthlong "rotations" working in rural areas.
Many doctors would rather work in cities or suburbs just because the hours are shorter. There are more doctors to talk to if you run into a problem, and far more specialists.
"If you're looking for more of a 9-to-5 practice where you can sign out and someone's going to cover for you," rural medicine isn't for you, said Dr. James E. Devlin, a graduate of the program.
He's a solo practitioner in Brockway, Pa. (pop. 2,500), checking his hospitalized patients seven days a week. It's hard to find someone to do that if he wants a vacation. But he knew growing up that he wanted to go into practice with his father, who has since retired.
He said he loves being a big fish in a little pond. But more, he loves knowing his patients as friends, as church members, as people. Being part of their community. "I wouldn't trade that for anything," he said.
That's the heart of the matter for Coleman Walker, too. She has done monthlong medical school rotations with the current doctor in Church Point, and wants the sort of bond he has with his community.
"He's not only the family doctor -- he's a teacher, kind of like a big brother, a dad, because he has to reach out to the young kids and help them, guide them," she said.
She's at a city hospital. While the University of Nebraska has rural residencies for 20 doctors dotted around the state, Louisiana has only one.
Dr. John Haynes, who runs Louisiana's rural residency, says it can't dent the shortage. "We're 250 doctors short in the rural areas," he said.
Dr. Greg Salard, now a third-year resident under Haynes, has signed a contract to work in Vivian once he completes his training next July.
He'll be the sixth of eight doctors who stayed in a rural area after working in Haynes' clinic, the newest family practice residency program run by LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.
Two other private programs also recruit doctors for country towns in the state and help them qualify for loan plans to pay off their medical school bills.
Coleman Walker knows she may not go straight back to Church Point. When she accepted her National Health Service Corps scholarship, she agreed to go wherever the government felt a doctor is most needed.
Wherever she works, she'd like to take a building her father owns in Church Point and turn it into a community center. She envisions it as a place "where high school kids can come in and have some tutoring ... where we can teach them to be confident and trying to make the world a better place."
Training programs
By The Associated Press
Here are some Web sites for medical school programs aimed at training country doctors:
Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans.
Tulane Rural Medical Education (TRuMed). Recruiting first class; application deadline is Jan. 15.
www.fammed.tulane.edu/trumed
LSU Health Science Center in Shreveport has a rural residency in Vivian, La.
www.lsuhsc.edu
Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.
Physician Area Shortage Program.
www.tju.edu/psap/home/index.cfm
University of Nebraska Medical Center, Rural Health Opportunities Program.
www.unmc.edu/RHEN/rhop.htm;
Accelerated Rural Training Program
unmc.edu/FamilyMed/ residency/artp.htm;
Rural Training Track
unmc.edu/FamilyMed/ residency/rtt/general.htm
University of Minnesota, Duluth.
A branch campus of the University of Minnesota Medical School, it teaches only third- and fourth-year students studying rural medicine, and takes 53 students a year.
penguin.d.umn.edu/Administration/default.htm
University of Minnesota, Rural Physicians Associate Program.
As an elective, third-year students at UM-Twin Cities and Duluth can spend nine months as assistants to rural doctors.
www.rpap.umn.edu
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Marquette.
The Upper Peninsula Program provides training in rural medicine for eight students of each MSUCHM class.
www.mgh.org/uphec/index.html
University of Illinois, Rockford
Rural Medical Education Program takes 15 students a year.
http://rhp.rockford.uic.edu/rhp
University of Washington's program known as WWAMI for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.
Takes about 65 students a year from those five states.
www.uwmedicine.org/Education/WWAMI |
