Advantages and Disadvantages of a Rural Family Medicine Practice

This article is sponsored past Careers by KevinMD.com.

Wide open spaces. Fresh, clean air. No people for miles around.

The advantages of rural living are plentiful, merely there are disadvantages, as well, especially when it comes to health care; being way out in the state likely means the choices for doctors, clinics and hospitals are severely limited.

Co-ordinate to the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), more than 25 percentage of the U.Southward. population lives in rural areas, withal less than 10 percent of the land's doctors practice there. This could be considering of the many obstacles that doctors in a rural setting face, including a lack of admission to resources and medical technology, the absenteeism of a divers work schedule and possibly a lower bacon than their urban counterparts.

Just the same factors that draw residents to a rural area (and keep them there) are the aforementioned ones that might entice a doctor to practise there — like the slower pace, feeling of rubber, lack of traffic and pollution, short (or no) commute and lower toll of living.

The challenges are many, but and then are the rewards, says Stephen Kliewer, M.S., MDiv, DMin, a rural mental health therapist who practices at Winding Waters Dispensary in Enterprise, Oregon, a tiny town of fewer than 2,000 people in a county of fewer than 7,200. Kliewer and other doctors from Winding Waters Clinic were featured in the non-for-turn a profit 2018 documentary The New Land Doctor: Living and Practicing in Rural America, produced and directed by Carl Davis.

"Beingness in rural medicine takes the best of the best," Kliewer says in the film. "The scope of what you're being asked to do is wider, and the depth of knowledge you need to have is deeper."

We recently chatted with Kliewer and asked him to tell us more nearly the pros and cons of practicing medicine in a rural setting. He's the son of a rural dr., several of his other relatives are rural doctors, and he conducted extensive research into the dynamics of rural medicine during his more than than ten years teaching in the Department of Family Medicine at Oregon Wellness Sciences Academy. If yous're thinking of accepting any health intendance position in an isolated area — or if yous've already said "yes" and are preparing to relocate — read on for Kliewer'south tips for happiness and success. Although these tips are directed at doctors, they utilize to all health care professionals working in a rural surface area, including PAs, nurses, therapists, and dentists.

1. Exist willing to become out on a limb. When you're the merely dr. for miles, y'all have to be prepare to accost the full spectrum of medicine — from pediatrics and obstetrics to cardiology, oncology, and triage. "You'll be expected to know a fairly adept amount about most every aspect of medicine," Kliewer says. Y'all're also likely to run across injuries in the country that you'd rarely meet in the city, like those acquired by farming equipment or encounters with wildlife.

two. Adopt a new set of professional person rules. Land life is quite different than urban center life, Kliewer cautions. "You will be friends with your patients. You will run across them in the grocery store, at social events, on the street, at church building." The key, he says, is to learn to exist comfortable seeing your patients in those settings, and be ready to have people casually mention an upshot they are having. "You have to respond, only you can't over-reply," he says. Try dealing with the comments gently, like, "That sounds similar something nosotros should look into. Permit's get you on my schedule."

3. Describe personal boundaries — and stick to them whenever possible. Dissimilar with a medical practice in the city, it won't always exist possible to make a "make clean break" from your designated work hours, but Kliewer advises rural doctors to at to the lowest degree attempt. "If you accept a skilful backup in place, and you become hiking, don't reply your phone." There may be exceptions, though, when you really desire to stay in the loop.

4. Be flexible. Rural patients — with fewer health care options, fiddling or no insurance and sunup-to-sundown farm chores — might non always obey doctor's orders regarding follow-up appointments, medications, post-op instructions, and home care. Be innovative in finding alternative ways to care for certain patients, like offering evening or weekend appointments or making an occasional business firm call.

5. Preach preventive care. See above. During an affliction or after an injury, rural patients might wait longer to seek medical attention. When you do go them into the office, gently remind them virtually preventive measures they can take to assistance avert illnesses.

6. Advocate for applied science. Funds may be tight at a rural do, but be ready to insist on at least the nuts, like the ability to teleconference with specialists when you need advice or testing equipment that will assistance patients avert hours-long drives to far-flung facilities.

7. Connect with community resources."In our county, a chief care md needs to be close with mental wellness resource, the domestic violence plan, community connections for housing, transportation, and nutrient, the VA program, and local veterans' programs," Kliewer says. Be gear up to assist vulnerable patients who may need assist getting a ride to an appointment or who may have meaning housing or family unit issues.

viii. Connect with medical resources, too.Establish a network of medical professionals you tin phone call on when y'all need advice. Rely on medical-school friends and mentors, and physicians at the nearest hospital or clinic, and don't be afraid to ask for help when yous need information technology.

9. Continue studying and learning. "Getting out of the surface area, going to where yous connect, discuss and vent with other doctors, is gold," says Kliewer. "Y'all'll gain important encouragement and perspective." Travel to conferences and workshops whenever possible to amend your skill set and go along up on the newest information and technology. Online instruction is practiced, likewise, he adds.

10. Support your spouse/partner. In a recent report on rural retentivity conducted past the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Wellness, it was reported that one of the near important factors for a medico who wants to succeed in a rural setting is to pay attending to establishing a new work and social life for your spouse or partner. "Help them notice meaningful work, either volunteer or paid," Kliewer advises.

xi. Don't neglect your ain social network. "Observe friends who do things that you like to practise," says Kliewer. "Look in a church building community, a music community, wherever. It doesn't matter where."

Lisa Truesdale is a author, Careers by KevinMD.com.

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Source: https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2019/01/the-pros-and-cons-of-practicing-medicine-in-a-rural-setting.html