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Rural Health Information Hub

Education and Training of the Rural Healthcare Workforce – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Education and Training of the Rural Healthcare Workforce.

'A Life-Changing Partnership': First Tribally-Affiliated Medical School in the U.S. Builds Workforce Pipeline to Underserved Communities
Describes how Oklahoma State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation is preparing students to work in rural and tribal settings. Highlights how cultural competence is included the curriculum and training opportunities.
Author(s): Gretel Kauffman
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Treating Rural America: The Last Doctor in Town
3 part documentary discussing challenges with accessing healthcare in rural communities. Part 1, "The Last Doctor in Town," highlights shortages of physicians in rural areas. Part 2, "The New Country Doctors," discusses rural residencies and the role of a rural physician. Part 3, "The Telehealth Solution," discusses the role of telehealth as a possible solution for barriers to care. Captions are available in the video player.
Additional links: The New Country Doctors, The Telehealth Solution
Author(s): Hyacinth Empinado
Date: 2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: STAT
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Supporting and Sustaining the Current and Future Workforce to Care for People with Serious Illness: Proceedings of a Workshop (2023)
Summarizes discussions from an April 2023 public workshop exploring strategies and approaches to address major workforce challenges, including health professional well-being, workforce shortages, workforce training and retention, and advancing the diversity, equity, and inclusion of the workforce. Includes a section on well-being of the clinical workforce in rural areas.
Author(s): Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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A Population Health Workforce to Meet 21st Century Challenges and Opportunities: Proceedings of a Workshop
Proceedings from a February 28, 2022 workshop exploring challenges faced by public health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, renewed policymaker attention, and expenditures directed to supporting the public health workforce. Intended to showcase the training, roles of, and setting for population health workers. Includes information focused on tribal communities in chapters 3 and 4.
Author(s): Roundtable on Population Health Improvement
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Understanding and Overcoming Barriers to Rural Obstetric Training for Family Physicians
Reports findings from a mixed-methods study on the availability and characteristics of obstetric (OB) training in rural family medicine residency programs, as well as the barriers to and facilitators of rural OB training.
Author(s): Erin Fredrickson, David V. Evans, Sara Woolcock, et al.
Citation: Family Medicine, 55(6), 381-388
Date: 2023
Type: Document
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Is Being There Enough? Postgraduate Nurse Practitioner Residencies in Rural Primary Care
Examines the characteristics of rural and rural-serving postgraduate nurse practitioner (NP) residency programs, and the practices they use to determine if and how they enable recruitment, transition, and retention of NPs in rural primary care practice. Interviews were conducted with residency program directors, clinic personnel, and current and former NP residents, and analyzed to identify key themes and variations in program structure.
Author(s): Louise Kaplan, Samantha W. Pollock, Susan M. Skillman, Davis G. Patterson
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 39(3), 529-534
Date: 11/2022
Type: Document
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Aiming For 'Real and Accessible': EMS Simulations Give Rural Providers Hands-On Experience
Describes how simulation training is helping rural emergency medical services providers prepare for a variety of situations. Discusses the use of mobile simulation facilities and virtual reality, and features programs in Colorado, Maine, and Nebraska.
Author(s): Gretel Kauffman
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 11/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Audiology, Medicine, and Pharmacy Interprofessional Preliminary Interviews and Discussions: Improving Hearing Health Care in Rural Alabama
Results of a study to determine the feasibility of interprofessional collaboration among physicians and audiologists and pharmacists and audiologists, to improve access and affordability of hearing health care in rural communities. Based on information from online surveys and virtual discussion groups with 16 family physicians and medicine residents at the University of Alabama and 15 pharmacists who worked in independently owned community pharmacies in Alabama.
Author(s): Emma B. Brothers, Marcia J. Hay-McCutcheon, Peter J. Hughes, M. Louanne Friend
Citation: American Journal of Audiology, 31(3), 656-668
Date: 09/2022
Type: Document
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Family Medicine Residencies: How Rural Training Exposure in GME Is Associated With Subsequent Rural Practice
Results of a study exploring associations between the amount of rural training received by 12,162 physicians during their U.S. accredited family medicine (FM) residencies between 2008-2012 and their practice locations in rural or urban areas as of 2018. Features statistics including characteristics of FM residency programs and graduates, and per cent of FM residency training in rural location, with breakdowns by 2018 urban or rural practice location.
Author(s): Deborah J. Russell, Elizabeth Wilkinson, Stephen Petterson, Candice Chen, Andrew Bazemore
Citation: Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 14(4), 441–450.
Date: 08/2022
Type: Document
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Training Rural to Serve Rural: Baccalaureate-MD Programs and Their Rural Results
Features combined baccalaureate/medical degree programs in New Mexico and West Virginia. Discusses how this educational approach can help address the need for rural primary care physicians. Describes student recruitment, program structure, and how the programs are funded.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 08/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Last Updated: 12/2/2024