Rural Track Research Articles

Rural residency training tracks recruitment survey.

Rural residency training tracks recruitment survey.

The effect of a rural track residency program with an emphasis on obstetrics on physician shortage areas.

The effect of a rural track residency program with an emphasis on obstetrics on physician shortage areas.

Crafting an affiliation agreement: academic-community collaboration in a rural track family practice residency program.

Crafting an affiliation agreement: academic-community collaboration in a rural track family practice residency program.

A case for the development of family practice rural training tracks.

Enthusiasm for alternate training sites has been strong among practicing family physicians and students seeking family practice residency positions in Wisconsin. The number of rural training tracks in the state is increasing rapidly. The University of Wisconsin currently has 4 residents in two rural training tracks. If 1998 recruitment is successful, there will be 12 residents in seven rural training tracks operated by two sponsoring institutions in the state. The WIsconsin rural training tracks are 1-2 programs,! in which the family practice resident spends the first year in the urban medical center of the home program completing appropriate rotations, such as internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics-gynecology, emergency medicine, surgery, and critical care, and the last 2 years in a rural community and rural hospital as an apprentice with a family practice group. During the last 2 years, the resident can receive longitudinal training in specialty areas with visiting subspecialists and can spend time away from the rural medical practice for specialty rotations not available in the rural setting. The development of the WIsconsin rural training tracks was based in part on the pioneering work of Rosenthal et al. 2 The process used to develop the first rural training track was adopted as a template for developing other rural training tracks in WIsconsin and in other states} Not much has been published, however, assessing educational outcomes and documenting the effects of rural training tracks on communities. Despite this lack of documentation, we believe rural tracks have merit as a training model for family practice and

Using rural training tracks to encourage rural practice careers and enhance training in family medicine.

Using rural training tracks to encourage rural practice careers and enhance training in family medicine.

The Supply of Rural Physicians

To the Editor. —Rosenblatt et al 1 have provided important data useful for studying methods to deal with the worsening maldistribution of physicians in America. This study makes clear the need for medical schools to clarify their mission and redefine the medical student training process if they seriously want to effect change in the health manpower needs of rural areas. Rosenblatt et al have identified factors linked with the production of rural physicians and further espouse the concept of special rural tracks as a possible key to achieve these ends. However, as a rural general internist, I feel that I must challenge one of their conclusions: ... that academic medical centers... will need to create conditions that increase student interest in family medicine specifically. Their conclusion draws from percentages of graduates in specialty groups practicing in rural counties. The specialty group with the highest percentage of rural practitioners was family practice

Rural training tracks in four family practice residencies

The use of rural training tracks (RTTs) in family practice residencies is a new strategy (beginning in the late 1980s) to increase the number of residents selecting rural careers. The authors describe the four residencies (in Washington, Nebraska, New York, and Kentucky) that have established RTTs. The first residency year is completed in an urban tertiary care center, and the second and third years are completed in a distant rural community wherein the primary faculty are the members of a rural family practice group. Inpatient experience for the residents is provided by community hospitals that offer obstetrics, emergency room care, and first-line critical care. The residents' training is supplemented by specialty faculty practicing in the rural communities. The curricula are highly structured and are evaluated to ensure training experiences of high quality. The RTTs' financial support comes from state initiatives, hospital reimbursement, recruitment budgets, and outpatient care revenues. The authors conclude that the RTT concept has the potential to lessen the shortage of rural physicians.

The Role of Nursing Education in Preparing Students for Rural Practice

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses research on the role of nursing education in preparing students for rural practice. The purpose of the research was to learn how education programs respond to unique features of rural nursing. Results from a two‐phase nationwide survey of 275 baccalaureate nursing programs are presented. The first phase identified programs offering a rural track, the second phase was a follow‐up survey to the deans and faculty of rural‐oriented programs. These findings indicate educators recognize that rural nursing differs from urban nursing because of cultural and demographic features, as well as technical and economic characteristics. Most educators believe their role should include developing student interest in rural practice. Recommendations from the findings are presented.

Soil and street dust heavy metal concentrations in and around Cuenca, Ecuador

Lead, cadmium and zinc concentrations have been obtained in a total of 83 soil and dust samples in and around the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Elevated heavy metal concentrations were observed in the city, with comparable Pb concentrations to those commonly found in European and North American cities. Lead concentrations were also elevated above the estimated regional background (less than 9 μg g −1) along a rural track used by about 100 vehicles per day. The extent of the contamination by Cd and Zn was restricted to the urban area.

Preparing Early Childhood Special Educators for Rural Settings

Professionals who deliver early childhood special education services in rural areas commonly encounter problems and challenges. They must often serve children of diverse ages and with a wide range of handicapping conditions who are scattered over large geographical areas. To compound the problems of serving these children, support services in rural areas are often quite sparse. To prepare early childhood special educators to meet the needs of children and families in rural communities, the University of Washington has designed a rural track in the master's level training program in early childhood special education. This manuscript reports on the components of that training program, and the results of the first 2 years of teacher preparation, including placement of trainees in rural practicum sites.

Un type d'habitation rurale à fonction « industrielle ». Les moulins de Bretagne et de Vendée

In the past mills were extremely numerous. The map of old windmills in Brillany and Vendée at the end of the nineteenth century brings out a contrast between, on the one hand, the region to the west of the Blavet and the Trieux, where they were seldom to be found except at Ushant and on the furthest western headlands, and, on the other hand, the eastern region, where they formed a concentrated group in the S.E., becoming scarcer towards the West and the North. There was, however, another fairly compact group along the Channel coast, in the Dinan - St.-Malo - Dol region. Now the frequency of water-mills was not everywhere in inverse proportion to that of windmills. History and imitation have played an essential part in their distribution. Windmills appear mainly to have followed the principal axis of the Brittany of the Dukes, from the Nantes region towards the Rohan estates. The part played by the estates of the landed gentry and of the church, in this sphere, could be usefully clarified. If, to consider the matter more closely, the greater frequency of water-mills along the longitudinal course of permanent streams is easily explained, the positioning of windmills appears less logical. Not all are on elevated sites. The situation of what was once heathland, the routes followed by ancient rural tracks, have played a part in their location. The diversity in type of mills is sometimes to be explained by imitation and sometimes by a true phenomenon of regional type. Certain mills were associated with a farm, others not. The miller, favoured by the existence of big landowners and better housed than the peasants, as he sometimes still is, was long the object of envy. But his privileges disappeared and the small mill declined. Industrial concentration has worked against it. With the loss of its industrial importance its only remaining function, if any, was agricultural. Sometimes the mill has been converted into a country cottage by town dwellers. But, in spite of everything, there still exists a considerable number of mills, with motor power replacing the forces of nature they were once driven by. And milling remains, with few exceptions, a family business, even at the level of the industrial mill. The big milling works have nevertheless swallowed up their rivals ; but in the West they are few and some thousand small concerns are still one-man businesses.