Physicians Who Serve

International, Rural, and Inner City Medicine and Medical Education Seminar

We all learn from each others, those who are more experienced, and those who are experiencing from a new and fresh perspective

Studies show that there is a common source of physicians who choose practice locations and populations most in need of service. This source is students with a history of service. These are not always the students with the highest MCAT scores, but they have a track record of service. In recent years changes in medical education and society have diminished the role of service and serving physicians. The purpose of this gathering is to restore the spirit of service to medicine. Currently there is a fragmentation that prevents completion of the cycle of service from underserved communities to training and back to serve. This gathering will facilitate the completion of the cycle.

For all who have a role in the Road to Underserved Practices

Students who serve

Students, residents with service obligations

Coordinators of clinical and service-learning experiences

Rural teachers and physicians

Rural college advisors

Admission Committee members

Those who organize preceptorships

Those who teach in preceptorships, physicians administrators community members

For Students

· Student organizations for service – start your own

· Mentorship and Serving

· Role model servants and their work

· Government programs – scholarship, loan repayment,

For Rural Physicians

· Shortage area designation – how to work with your Office of Rural Health to get your county declared a shortage area, eligible for improved reimbursement mechanisms

· 10% bonus – get that paperwork done so that you are eligible, ask the experts who make the rules and approve the paperwork

· Federally qualified clinics - get that paperwork done so that you are eligible, ask the experts who make the rules and approve the paperwork

· Community Friendly rotations – how to use medical education to encourage the right students,

For Admissions Officers and NHSC Selection Officers

· Studies regarding selecting for service, selecting those with service and their interests and their practice locations

· What risk to select and train for service? – the side effect of selecting for intellectual qualities, research, and specialization are rampant. What if we did commit to service as a priority? What would happen to professional schools, to medical assocations, to specialties, to shortage areas and their communities, schools, economy?

Organizations