Tyler W Barreto1, Alvin Estacio2, Paula Winkler2. 1. Sea Mar Marysville Family Medicine Residency, Marysville, WA. 2. South Central Area Health Education Center, San Antonio, TX.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The rural health workforce in the United States is difficult to maintain and harder to increase. This may contribute to worse health outcomes in rural areas and threaten the sustainability of rural hospitals. Previous studies have attempted to identify medical student characteristics and strategies to help grow this workforce. In this study, we aimed to understand the needs of medical students and hospital administrators to identify potential strategies to improve the rural health workforce. METHODS: We conducted medical student and hospital administrator focus groups. We analyzed focus group data separately to identify themes, and reviewed these themes for overlap between groups and potential actionable areas. We calculated Cohen κ statistics. RESULTS: We identified 26 themes in the medical student focus groups, and 14 themes in the hospital administrator focus group. Of these themes, three were identical between groups (scope of practice, loan repayment and financial concerns, and exposure to rural health in training), and two were similar between the groups (family and leadership). CONCLUSION: The identification of two themes that are similar but not identical between medical students and hospital administrators may serve as part of future strategies to improving rural physician recruitment. Future studies should determine if a shift in language or focus in these areas specifically help to improve the rural health workforce.
INTRODUCTION: The rural health workforce in the United States is difficult to maintain and harder to increase. This may contribute to worse health outcomes in rural areas and threaten the sustainability of rural hospitals. Previous studies have attempted to identify medical student characteristics and strategies to help grow this workforce. In this study, we aimed to understand the needs of medical students and hospital administrators to identify potential strategies to improve the rural health workforce. METHODS: We conducted medical student and hospital administrator focus groups. We analyzed focus group data separately to identify themes, and reviewed these themes for overlap between groups and potential actionable areas. We calculated Cohen κ statistics. RESULTS: We identified 26 themes in the medical student focus groups, and 14 themes in the hospital administrator focus group. Of these themes, three were identical between groups (scope of practice, loan repayment and financial concerns, and exposure to rural health in training), and two were similar between the groups (family and leadership). CONCLUSION: The identification of two themes that are similar but not identical between medical students and hospital administrators may serve as part of future strategies to improving rural physician recruitment. Future studies should determine if a shift in language or focus in these areas specifically help to improve the rural health workforce.
Authors: Martin MacDowell; Michael Glasser; Michael Fitts; Kimberly Nielsen; Matthew Hunsaker Journal: Rural Remote Health Date: 2010-07-26 Impact factor: 1.759
Authors: Ian T MacQueen; Melinda Maggard-Gibbons; Gina Capra; Laura Raaen; Jesus G Ulloa; Paul G Shekelle; Isomi Miake-Lye; Jessica M Beroes; Susanne Hempel Journal: J Gen Intern Med Date: 2017-11-27 Impact factor: 5.128
Authors: Ernest Moy; Macarena C Garcia; Brigham Bastian; Lauren M Rossen; Deborah D Ingram; Mark Faul; Greta M Massetti; Cheryll C Thomas; Yuling Hong; Paula W Yoon; Michael F Iademarco Journal: MMWR Surveill Summ Date: 2017-01-13