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Rural Medical Educators Meet to Discuss Engagement and Innovation

Sidney Steele
/
KBIA
Keynote speaker Ben Anderson speaks to the National Rural Health Association about community engagement and innovation."

Rural healthcare providers and educators from across the country gathered in Columbia today to discuss techniques for improving care in their communities. The National Rural Health Association held its Rural Medical Educators Conclave. The theme was “Engagement and Innovation.”

Keynote speaker Ben Anderson discussed methods he uses at Kearny County Hospital in Western Kansas to recruit doctors to be a part of the community and keep patients engaged in care. Many doctors who serve in rural communities do not stay for more than a few years, he said. His goal is to find doctors who stay engaged in the community, and to help other medical providers to do the same.

The MU Rural Track Pipeline Program works to accomplish the same goals. Dr. Kathleen Quinn, Associate Dean for Rural Health at the University of Missouri School of Medicine said the program sends rural interested students to partner hospitals across the state, where they are taken in throughout their medical education to prepare them to live and work in those communities.

Quinn said, “In rural communities there are less resources and they have to be able to deal with unexpected instances and have broad spectrum practices.”

In his keynote, Anderson expressed the importance of making healthcare accessible to everyone. He said in order to do so, medical providers need to have a relationship with the community. At Kearney County Hospital, he conducted community surveys to learn the needs not being met by members of his community.

Those in attendance expressed a love for their work in rural communities, though they recognize the need for more providers in their communities. Dr. Jim Stevermer, is a family physician in Fulton. He said “it remains extremely clear we need to train more people to provide medical and nursing care to people in rural areas. The population is still under served and I don’t know that is recognized nationally.”

Dr. Kamille Sherman practiced medicine in a rural hospital for 12 years before becoming a rural medicine educator. She said “I think rural medicine really allows you to give back. I got to do things that are really a privilege: delivering babies and being the hospice doctor for the community.”

Sherman said the conclave is a great meeting to bring back ideas and remind herself that rural medicine is alive and well.