At East Tennessee State and in Nebraska rural students do not seem to know as
much about health careers, especially medicine, and their applications do not
have the same polish as the urban students. It is crucial that we understand
this and take steps to help rural background students with preparation and
applications, through individual efforts, through the RME list serve, through
the Health Professional List serve, or through me at rbowman@unmc.edu
Other preprofessional info The Importance of Local Rural Schools
Health Advisors
Elder N; Taylor A; Anderson CE; Virgin R
Department of Family Practice, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, USA.
eldern@ohsu.edu
Fam Med, 29(2):108-11 1997 Feb
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Because a shortage of physicians for the rural United States persists, it is important to better understand why individuals from rural areas consider careers in medicine. This study assessed and compared rural and urban high school students' interest in careers in medicine. METHODS: Students attending presentations given by medical students about health care careers completed a questionnaire given at high schools between 1991-1994. This questionnaire assessed interest in health and medical careers and self-perceived capability to pursue a medical career. RESULTS: A total of 924 students attended the presentations and returned questionnaires. Approximately 33% of students expressed an interest in some type of health career. Related to choosing such a career were being female, coming from an urban area, and having had a previous talk about a health care career. Among the 13% of students considering becoming a physician, only being from an urban area or having had a previous talk were related to this choice. Rural students who had received previous talks were more likely to consider health care and medicine careers. CONCLUSIONS: Socializing rural high school students to health care and physician careers via structured talks and personal encouragement may increase the number of rural students interested in such careers and help alleviate the shortage of rural health care providers.
Language
Eng
Unique Identifier
97200235
MESH Headings
Adolescence ; Career Choice * ; Family Practice * ; Female ; Health Occupations */ED ; Human ; Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Male ; Oregon ;
Physicians, Family SD ; Questionnaires ; Rural Population ; Schools ; Urban Population
Education - the entire pipeline