Mizzou program connects medical students with rural areas

One Missouri university is doing its part to combat the physician shortage in rural areas across the state.

The University of Missouri School of Medicine offers a Summer Community Program that gives medical school students the opportunity to work side by side with physicians for eight weeks in rural communities, to encourage the students to consider practicing in these smaller, underserved areas. The program is part of the school's Rural Track Pipeline program.

Professors involved in the program have conducted a 15-year study to determine if it has succeeded in making students view rural practice in a more favorable light. According to a news release from the university, researchers questioned 229 participants from 1996 to 2010, and asked them about pre- and post-program perceptions related to rural practice and lifestyle. They also calculated how many chose to become family medicine physicians and tracked the locations of their first practices.

Survey says

According to the news release, the findings indicated that after students completed the program, they had a more favorable perception of rural practice; 72 percent of students said they were more interested in rural medicine than they were before. The news release also said that compared to nonparticipants, students in the program also were 30 percent more likely to enter primary-care residency training and twice as likely to choose family medicine specifically.

These findings are significant because many counties, especially in Southeast Missouri, already are experiencing a shortage of family physicians. The shortage could become more acute after the Affordable Care Act mandates, which are designed to increase the number of Americans who have access to health insurance, come into effect.

Limited access

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has assigned scores between 1 and 25 to each county, with the highest scores indicating limited access to care and a possible shortage. Cape Girardeau County was assigned a 14. Stoddard, Mississippi, Pemiscot and Wayne counties all received scores of 20 or higher, which are some of the highest numbers in the state.

Alex Ogburn, vice president of ambulatory services at Saint Francis Medical Center, said the facility already is in need of more primary-care physicians, especially in its rural locations.

"In rural Missouri, there is only one primary-care physician for every 1,776 citizens, compared with one primary care physician for every 962 metropolitan Missourians," he wrote in an email.

He added that an October Saint Francis physician needs analysis found 128 additional primary care physicians were needed in the tertiary service area served by the medical center.

First-hand account

Elizabeth Heeb Tidwell of Sikeston, Mo., completed the University of Missouri program last summer, where she worked in hospitals and clinics in Sikeston and East Prairie, Mo. She said that because she was raised in a more rural community, the program did little to change her perceptions.

"It did reinforce what I like about rural communities," Tidwell said. "They're more tight knit and you know your patients more closely; you might even go to church with them or something."

She said other students in the program from larger cities like St. Louis or Kansas City were "very surprised" at how much they enjoyed the rural community and lifestyle.

Ogburn said Saint Francis is "very aggressive" in its physician recruitment and "selling" the medical center as well as the community.

"For a rural area [fewer than 100,000 people], the quality of medicine and technology available here is very impressive," he wrote. "The community's size, quality education and other amenities also help draw physicians and their families to Southeast Missouri."

Ogburn also said Saint Francis works to provide fair compensation and a "physician-friendly culture" to encourage medical students to look at practicing primary care or family medicine.

While she's still trying to determine exactly what field in which she will practice, Tidwell said she likely will go back to a smaller community such as Sikeston. She said there is "definitely a need" for more physicians in and around her hometown.

"I feel that the doctors always have a lot of patients," she said. "I've lived there all my life, so I know if I need to go to the doctor I'm going to have to wait about a week to get an appointment unless it's really urgent. I think the university is really doing its part to address that problem and help Missouri."

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

211 Saint Francis Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo

Sikeston, Mo