Med student trying small-town practice

Associated Press/Charlie Riedel

A pair of cattle headed for a water tank as they crossed a dusty stubble field in near Elkhart, Kan. A prolonged drought has promped many area ranchers to sell off their livestock as feed becomes more and more scarce.By Tammy Raddle ~ Southeast Missourian

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Kristin Ancell has lived in Sikeston all her life, and that's really the way she would like to keep it.

Currently a student at University of Missouri-Columbia's Medical School, she is considering small-town medicine over the often more lucrative big-city medicine.

To help her make that choice, Ancell is a participant in the university's Area Health Education Center Rural Medical Scholars Program. The program is designed to encourage medical students to consider serving their medical careers in underserved rural areas, like her hometown of Sikeston.

She is taking part in one of the tiers of the three-tiered program, called "Rural Summer."

"It's basically an option that you can take between your first and second years of medical school," Ancell said. "The idea is to get a community-based clinical experience."

The goal of this program is to improve the supply and distribution of health care providers in the underserved areas of Missouri. The idea has caught on with students like Ancell, who think they may prefer small-town medicine over practicing in larger metropolitan areas.

"So far I really like the feel of small town medicine," Ancell said. "Doctors get a chance to really know their patients."

She has had some clinical experience through medical school at larger hospitals, and she says that there is a big contrast between large hospitals and small ones like Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, where she is working this summer.

"It seems like in larger hospitals, every time a doctor is introduced to a patient, it's for the first time," Ancell said. "The pace is much more hectic."

Historically, small hospitals often lacked the facilities and equipment that larger hospitals had. That put doctors practicing in the smaller hospitals at a distinct disadvantage in helping their patients. But, says Ancell, that is no longer the case.

"Smaller hospitals now have access to most of the same equipment that larger hospitals have," she said. "Now small town doctors can be just as effective in most cases as doctors at larger facilities."

One of the things Ancell has enjoyed about her Rural Summer experience is the chance to see different specialties up close.

"I've had a chance to see and participate in family practice, internal medicine and now OB-GYN," explained Ancell. "I've even gotten to be part of several deliveries."

Ancell is taking her time in deciding what her own specialty will be. She says she will likely determine her speciality after her third year in medical school.