Future of rural and underserved areas

[Miler407]

First, I think this is a great sub-forum--I was recently accepted to a med school dedicated to training rural FPs.

As I was drifting around the Radiology forum, I saw a thread about future radiologists and there was a link to an article on the ACR (American college of Radiology) website about the cuts they will experience, which could affect rural areas causing a movement of rural rads to urban areas.
http://www.acr.org/s_acr/doc.asp?CID=2540&DID=23050

My questions are:
how could this affect other rural FM specialists who are often stretched thin covering many other areas of the hospital?
Will reading more images be added to their already mountainous responsibilities?
Won't this create a bigger gap between rural and urban when I thought the whole idea of emphasizing rural medicine was to try and close the gaps?

Isn't it enough of a challenge to close the gap of healthcare quality in rural areas, but now it seems the gov't is working against closing the gap!! As a future MD this is definitely disheartening and may be enough to influence what specialty to go into.

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[sophiejane]

Isn't it enough of a challenge to close the gap of healthcare quality in rural areas, but now it seems the gov't is working against closing the gap!! As a future MD this is definitely disheartening and may be enough to influence what specialty to go into.

Fortunately, diagnostic rads can be done remotely with the new technology available for imaging. Might come a time when radiologists in the city help out with cases in more remote areas.

Regardless, it just underscores the need for rural primary care docs to be the best of the best, not the pasture to which the old or incompetent are put out to. We should be able to run codes, read our own films, deliver babies, etc. This kind of training is available, but not in big university family medicine programs.

Part of changing that image is increasing the attractiveness of rural medicine to young docs...

 

[deleted87716]

Part of changing that image is increasing the attractiveness of rural medicine to young docs...

Absolutely. Check out this guy. Nantucket ain't exactly Hooterville.

 

[mustangsally65]

Part of changing that image is increasing the attractiveness of rural medicine to young docs...

So simple yet so seldomly done! To me, a rural lifestyle is so much more appealing than an urban lifestyle. Then again, I grew up in rural Appalachia so my perspective is very different from most young peoples'.

Rural medicine does need to be better advertised. It can be similar to a life style specialty if you share call with a lot of other docs. Some even work in clinics only and don't bother with hospital priveliges or responsibilities. It just seems to me that there is so much more room for variation in rural medicine, you can work as much or as little as you want and can work for yourself instead of a big hospital or group practice.

 

[sophiejane]

Absolutely. Check out this guy. Nantucket ain't exactly Hooterville.

I love it!! The babes are even more impressive given that 2 of them seem to have some considerable macrosomia going on. Shoulder dystocia, anyone?