Table 1. Rural Emphasis in Family Practice Residency Programs (N = 353)
|
Component of Program as Noted by Program Directors |
Number of Programs |
Proportion of Programs |
|
Any rural experience - rotation, clinic, track, fellowship |
165 |
46.7% |
|
142 |
40.2% |
|
|
50 |
14.2% |
|
|
38 |
10.8% |
|
|
Obstetrical fellowship http://www.aafp.org/fellowships/obstet.html |
42 |
11.9% |
|
Programs with a rural fellowship http://www.aafp.org/fellowships/rural.html |
16 |
4.5% |
|
Programs with fellowship or procedural emphasis |
70 |
19.8% |
|
Program director is rural contact person |
112 |
31.7% |
|
Full rural mission Partial rural mission No rural mission |
54 97 201 |
15.3% 27.5% 56.9% |
Rosenblatt Graduate Study, Letter in JAMA
Table 2. Selected Characteristics and Rural Practice Choice by Graduates
|
Number of required rural months (Number of programs with rural months) |
0 (212) |
1 (82) |
2 (29) |
3 (15) |
4-6 (4) |
22+ (11) |
|
Graduates choosing rural practice |
24.4% |
36.5% |
45.6% |
52.3% |
51.0% |
68.5% |
|
Number of obstetrical months taken (Number of programs) |
0 |
1 |
2 (141) |
3 (111) |
4 (71) |
>4 (30) |
|
Graduates choosing rural |
23.8% |
31.2% |
34.1% |
42.1% |
||
|
Number of other graduate programs used (Number of family practice programs) |
0 (138) |
1 (33) |
2 (27) |
3 (28) |
4 - 6 (127) |
|
|
Graduates choosing rural (mean) |
37.3% |
26.4% |
25.1% |
27.4% |
22.5% |
Table 3. Weighted Least Squares Estimates of the Effects of Program Characteristics on Rural Graduates:
From Family Medicine Family practice residency programs and the graduation of rural family
physicians.
Bowman RC, Penrod JD. 4:288-92.
Predictors B Significance
|
Months of required rural training |
.82 |
p < .0001 |
|
|
Percentage of minority residents at program |
-.21 |
p < .0001 |
|
|
Full rural mission at program |
12 D |
p < .0001 |
|
|
Percentage of population of the state that is nonmetro |
.16 |
p = .0063 |
|
|
Procedural capability, emphasis or rural or ob fellowship |
5.8 D |
p = .0074 |
|
|
Director is rural contact person for the program |
5.4 D |
p = .0099 |
|
|
Other graduate training programs used at site |
-4.8 D |
p = .0114 |
|
|
Partial rural mission at program |
4.9 D |
p = .0179 |
|
|
Months of obstetrical training |
2.2 |
p = .0192 |
|
|
Percentage of female residents at program |
-.13 |
p = .0332 |
|
|
Population of program site (city or metro) |
ns |
||
|
Percentage of faculty with rural practice experience |
ns |
||
|
Sponsoring hospital of program is public |
ns |
||
|
Constant |
20.8 |
p < .0001 |
|
|
Adjusted R-squared |
.48 |
||
F = 26.14, p < .0001
D
dichotomous variable, all others are continuousNote on interpreting the table:
B is the percent change in rural graduation rate per unit change in the independent variable. For example, programs with a rural mission graduate 12 more residents per 100 trained or 1 per class of 8. Programs with 4 months of obstetrics graduated 2.2 x 2 or 4.4 more rural doctors per 100 trained than programs with 2 months of obstetrics.