Published
2024-02-14
Issue
Section
Original Reports
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Dr. Jayci Hamrick Avery, Paula Clawson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All work in JRMC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Looking at the Utility of Rural Pathway Programs in Producing Rural Physicians
Jayci Hamrick Avery, MD
UAB Huntsville Family Medicine Residency, Huntsville AL
Paula Clawson, BA
UAB Heersink School of Medicine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/jrmc.v7i1.5606
Keywords: Rural physicians; Rural medical students; Rural medicine pathway
Abstract
Introduction: The shortage of primary care doctors in rural America is on a continual incline, with only about 3% of recent Family Medicine residency graduates expressing interest in rural practice. Medical schools across the country have implemented various programs to attract students to rural medicine, with varying success in their graduates setting up rural practice.
Methods: The UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine (UABSOM) Huntsville Regional Medical Campus (HRMC) operates a three-part Rural Pathway with college premedical, medical school and Family Medicine residency elements. The residency specialty and first practice locations for students in this path were analyzed from 2004 – 2022.
Results: These pathway elements work together with a current success rate of up to 54% practicing in rural Alabama. For students who participated in all three elements, while the number is small (5) the success rate is high, with 80% now in primary care practice in rural Alabama.
Conclusions: These elements are inexpensive to implement, embrace the often-underrepresented rural student and create physicians to serve rural patients.
Downloads
Author Biography
Jayci Hamrick Avery, MD, UAB Huntsville Family Medicine Residency, Huntsville AL
PGY1 intern at the UAB Huntsville Family Medicine Residency, Huntsville AL
2023 Graduate of UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine
