Rural training settings and practice location decision.

Since 1974 the residency program in family medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia has required resident physicians to spend approximately 25 percent of their last two years in a faculty supervised rural training center. This paper describes the setting of the rural training, the practice location decisions of the graduates, their recollections about their views regarding rural practice during their training, and their current judgements about the usefulness of that rural training experience. The results offer strong and corroborating evidence that such training is well received, is judged to be different from usual training, and is considered useful in both clinical and personal decision making. A ranking of ten training opportunities inherent in a rural center provides insight into why such experiences are well received. The data are suggestive, though far from conclusive, that participants' initial views about rural practice are reinforced by their rural training experience.