3 Reasons To Consider The Rural Route To Medicine

As many as 21 healthcare service facilities in rural areas will be each awarded up to $200,000 annually for three years in Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program grants in a recent Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) government funding initiative.

If the thought of waking up to a country-side sunrise to the mellifluous sounds of birds chirping, while sipping the morning’s first cup of hot coffee doesn’t have “happy doctor” written all over it, here are 3 more reasons to take the rural route:

Loan forgiveness programs

Often times rural medical educations tend to cost up to $200,000 when all is done, and certain states like New Mexico and Iowa are granting back millions for loan repayment to qualified graduate physicians in a new plan to significantly reduce the shortage of rural physicians.

Grow roots

An opportunity to settle in a small-town city, gain valuable wide-range medical training and experience, and enjoy a work-life balance that only a rural health care location can bring. Start and raise a family while operating your own practice or being a provider at a local hospital.

Reduce the physician shortage and improve health outcomes – rural health care facilities often times require a considerable amount of drive-time for patients and are often times significantly understaffed per the coverage area. Providers that go rural are greeted with open arms by the community to either join a regional health care team, or acquire land and open up their very own practice. Community residents will have access to closer-proximity care and/or hospitals and clinics staffed with much needed healthcare physicians.

Join a team or kickstart your own practice

Whether joining a community in need, or by starting your own small-town practice, Continue to explore paths that would best enable progressive transitions thru each phase of the medical providers’ journey –  from beginning to end of career. Going rural carries with it it’s own beacon of reward and merit.

Avoid some of the burnout pitfalls that plague big city facilities and bureaucratic entrenchment, often times removing you from yourself in shorter time by going rural.

The rural route offers longevity promoting positive outcomes in both; healthcare and a happy life for students and physicians from a burnout-prevention point of view.