Rural training tracks in the United States for family physician training

Resumo

Introdução: Rural Training Tracks have recaptured momentum in the United States due to the shortage of training opportunities and physicians located in rural communities. Distributed medical education for both medical students and residents has proven successful and recent efforts have provided data and experience to increase rural medical education and access to care for rural patients.

Objetivos: The RTT Collaborative has been established with the purpose of sustaining health professions education in rural places through mutual encouragement, peer learning, practice improvement, and the delivery of technical expertise in support of a quality rural workforce.

Metodologia ou descrição da experiência: Evidence relating to Rural Training Tracks in the United Staes is growing. Surveys and case studies nationally have led to an increased understanding of the structure of the programs themselves as well as the data related to graduate outcomes. This poster presentation will highlight descriptive research projects, efforts involving medical student recruitment, program support and new rural program development.

Resultados: The number of Rural Training Tracts in the United States is now increasing. The structure of Rural Training Tracks is becoming better understood by analysis of curriculum, economic funding and community support. Knowledge is increasing for both the medical school and residency training. The RTT Collaborative is a new organization working with medical education programs, promoting student interest in rural training programs, maintaining a database of program demographics and outcomes, working with the relevant bodies to define and establish new means and standards of accreditation, and promoting excellence in rurally located community-embedded medical and health professions education.

Conclusões ou hipóteses: Rural Training Tracks are increasing in the United States in conjunction with an appreciation for how distributed medical education provides an increased access to rural family medicine training. A growing understanding regarding these programs and support for sustaining this effort is key to contributing to rural health human resources in a changing healthcare system in the United States.