Postgraduate training for rural family practice. Goals and opportunities.

PROBLEM BEING ADDRESSED: The continuing shortage of rural family physicians in Canada. PURPOSE OF PROGRAM: To further develop training for rural family practice so that adequate numbers of rural family physicians will be appropriately prepared. MAIN COMPONENTS OF PROGRAM: All family medicine residents should have the opportunity to experience the joys and challenges of rural family practice. Rural family medicine training streams provide the best education for family medicine residents who are planning a career in rural family medicine. Integrated training for rural family practice should be high-quality, academically sound, needs-driven, evidence-based, learner-centered, and outcome-measured. This involves comprehensive development of curricula that provide specific skills and appropriate core subjects in rural practice as well as a solid family medicine foundation. contextual and experiential learning in areas similar to or in actual areas where there is a need for rural physicians, and appropriate hospital rotations to learn skills for the hospital role of many rural family doctors, are important components of rural family medicine training.
CONCLUSIONS: Postgraduate rural family medicine training programs can be further focused and developed to train more physicians with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for rural practice.