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Meeting the need for rural physicians

In terms of health care, rural communities are often underserved.  According to Mark Meurer with the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rural Medical Education program, 82 percent of Illinois’ rural counties are considered underserved.  With approximately 500 doctors in rural Illinois at or near retirement age, he says there is a need for primary care physicians in rural areas.

One of the goals of RMED, Meurer says, is to recruit students from the state of Illinois with rural backgrounds.  “They have to be rural,” he says.  “We have a phrase we use – it’s called ‘ruralality’ – and we have to have students in our program that understand what it’s like to grow up in a rural community.”

UIC’s RMED program is one of a few rural medical programs nationally that has curriculum that spans all four years of medical school.  “Our students will go to class with everyone else at the University of Illinois College of medicine,” he says, “they receive the same exact medical school education as all other graduates.”  The difference is, Meurer notes, “Our students also take a supplemental curriculum that focuses on issues that are more pertinent to rural doctors.”

The RMED program was established in 1993 and has graduated 211 students. Meurer says currently there are 164 graduates still practicing – 118 of them in Illinois.

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