Linking Medical Education and Training to Rural America

Book excerpt: This document represents proceedings of a workshop before the Senate Special Committee on Aging. The workshop focused on the severe shortage of health professionals in the rural health care system. Opening remarks by Portia Mittelman, Staff Director of the Special Committee on Aging and Jeffrey Human, Director of the Office of Rural Health Policy provide an overview of the problems and issues associated with delivery of rural health care services, including shortage of rural medical professionals, recruiting and training of medical students who will work in rural areas, and the existing programs focusing on rural health service delivery. The first panel of the workshop, with four speakers representing leaders in rural health care, examined national policies regarding the education of health professionals and the barriers to improvements. The panel emphasized personal sacrifices of rural health professionals, the need for professional support, medical students specialty choices, financial support for family medicine programs and primary care services, and improvement of rural manpower distribution. The second panel, consisting of five speakers, presented information on specific exemplary model programs that link medical education and training to rural areas. The appendix includes information about educational and community programs that address the health care needs of rural areas, articles addressing medical education reform, and written testimonies from various sources. (LP)