Rural Practice Curriculum
College of Medicine

Purpose

The purpose of the Rural Practice Curriculum, as developed by the Rural Practice Curriculum ad hoc Committee of the College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, in consultation with the Dean of the College of Medicine, the Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, is to give our students participating in the Arkansas Community Match and Rural Practice Student Loan and Scholarship Programs a sound exposure to rural medicine in the context of primary care medicine.

To that end, the curriculum affords our students multiple exposures to rural medicine in a variety of primary care specialties: notably, Family Medicine, General Internal Medicine, General Pediatrics, Internal Medicine/Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and General Surgery. The Office of Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) will assist in much of the logistics of student assignment to rural practice sites throughout the State.

In all cases where possible, students in the Community Match Program will be placed in rural locations in which they have a contractual agreement to practice at the completion of their formal medical education. Additionally, the experiences of our students are monitored by comprehensive evaluations by both students and faculty. Reports of these evaluations are sent from the Office of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education to the Curriculum Committee of the College of Medicine for critique and suggestions for improvement in the curriculum. It is anticipated that the Rural Practice Curriculum will change with time as we strive to ever improve the educational experience of our students.

Curriculum

1. All students in the Community Match or Rural Practice Programs must join a primary care interest group in Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and/or the Rural Medicine Student Leadership Association, and are encouraged to actively participate in these organizations.

2. All students in the Community Match or Rural Practice Programs must take at least one preceptorship between their freshman and sophomore year and/or between their sophomore and junior year. This preceptorship should be done in a rural community if possible. The AHEC Office assists with this component of the Rural Practice Curriculum.

3. All students in the Community Match or Rural Practice Programs are encouraged to participate in the Day with a Doctor Program their Freshman Year. The Day with a Doctor Program is sponsored and directed by the Arkansas Caduceus Club.

4. All students in the Community Match or Rural Practice Programs should have an element of Rural Medicine in their Family Medicine Clerkship their Junior year of medical school. This will be the responsibility of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.

5. All students in the Community Match or Rural Practice Programs must take one of their Primary Care Selectives or Acting Internships at an AHEC. The College of Medicine will work with the AHEC’s to ensure that at least part of the rotation will be a rural experience.

Approved by the Executive Committee on May 16, 1996
Modified with permission of Dean Wilson on November 29, 1999
Modified with permission of Dean Reece on November 12, 2004

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