The area health education centers (AHEC) program was established in West Virginia in 1972 as a centralized consortium linking undergraduate and graduate medical and health professions training in Charleston. In 1987 the reorganized AHEC began developing rural community-based consortia that integrate rural primary care residencies with state-funded…

Reviews the rural physician shortage and related policy and research needs. Discusses geographic distribution of physicians, quality of rural care, rural recruitment and retention, rural residency training, factors in medical education affecting entry into rural practice, physician productivity and income, reimbursement, federal and state programs…

Outcomes data from seven medical schools with successful special programs to increase the rural physician work force identify three core features: a strong institutional mission, targeted selection of students likely to practice in rural areas, and a focus on primary care, especially family practice. Rural residency programs should collaborate…

Preparation for rural medical practice is adequate in the areas of clinical knowledge and procedural skills, but to increase the retention of rural physicians, more curricular emphasis is needed in the areas of sensitivity to rural social issues, counseling, networking, and fostering self-confidence to function effectively in an environment with…

Complex community health promotion programs are being held accountable for their effectiveness, but rural public health departments lack staff and expertise to carry out evaluations. In Kentucky, a university evaluation expert trains local public health staff in technical skills for program evaluation and provides ongoing mentoring and technical…

Current efforts to address the severe and worsening shortage of rural physicians include attracting and preparing rural students for medical school, enhancing medical school curricula, and placing and retaining rural physicians. Recommendations include creating incentives for successful rural training programs, encouraging innovation in rural…

As part of its mission to increase the availability of primary care providers in rural and other underserved areas of the country, the national Area Health Education Center Program has developed new rural-focused initiatives, including expanded student experiences in underserved areas, rural-track residencies, and telehealth links to rural…

Most of the world's rapidly expanding aging population is in rural areas of developing countries. Geriatric training programs should include social, economic, and psychological aspects of aging as well as medical, and should focus on enabling primary health caregivers to care for older people in their environments. Efforts to provide rural…