| Date: |
December 18, 2008 |
| Contact: |
Ellen Averill
(918) 561-8215 |
HRSA grant boosts OSU's rural medical training sites
TULSA, Okla. — A three-year, $542,958 grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration supports Oklahoma State University Center for Rural Health efforts to increase the number of physicians choosing to practice in rural Oklahoma.
William Pettit, D.O., center director and associate dean for rural health at OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, said the Pre-Doctoral Training in Primary Care grant supports the OSU medical school’s mission to serve rural and under-served Oklahoma, and promotes both primary care medicine and allied health care careers in Oklahoma.
”“We want to create programs that will train rural health care providers as effectively as possible by creating new residency training sites, and increase the pipeline for future rural physicians through educational programs that begin as early as middle school,” Pettit said.
The increased rural medical training will let students from rural areas stay there for much of their training, which will emphasize primary care and rural practice, with expanded rural clerkships for primary care departments. Courses will introduce rural medicine and rural health for students in their first two years of medical school. They can shadow a rural physician in a three-week summer rural medical clerkship to learn more about rural medicine early in their training. They also will train in rural health settings as part of community clinic, rural clinic, community hospital and emergency medicine rotations during their third and fourth years of medical school.
Rural sites where students can take much of their training will be associated with existing rural residency programs or developing sites in Durant, Enid, Lawton, and Tahlequah. Community campuses are planned that will support students during their training, and help them develop relationships with regional health professionals that will continue into their careers as practicing rural physicians.
