6/4/2007
Terre Haute, Indiana

There is a severe shortage of health care providers in rural areas in Indiana. Yet, students graduating from medical schools in the United States are much more likely to locate in urban or suburban settings upon completion of residency training. Previous studies indicate there is no single reason for the distribution problem. One possible reason in Indiana is that many students graduating from medical school do not appreciate the benefits of practicing medicine in rural areas. The majority of medical students have minimal exposure to a rural lifestyle.

The Richard G. Lugar Center for Rural Health saw this as an opportunity to fill the void in this area and began the Hoosier Rural Summer Preceptorship (HRSP) in 1993. Since then, the program has provided students between their first and second years in medical school with stimulating, first-hand experiences in rural areas of the Wabash Valley. This year's class begins their experience today:

Summer 2007 Students
L-R Front: Kyle Turner, John-Paul Berauer, Lisha Town
Back: Adam Steele, Kevin Desai, Kris Homb

These students will spend eight weeks in the HRSP program. The program is divided into four two-week periods, with two of the two week periods conducted in the practice of various rural physicians, two weeks spent in a rural hospital and the remaining two week period spent at our model rural health clinic and training site in Clay City, Indiana. The experience includes, for example, taking patients' histories and following physicians on hospital rounds. While shadowing their assigned preceptor, students get to experience many firsts, such as participating at their first birth, "scrubbing in" for surgery, and participating in emergency room activities.