U. of Colorado Students Get Taste of Rural Healthcare
Third-year medical students at the University of Colorado at Denver have an unusual opportunity to get hands-on experience with rural health care through the school's community rotation curriculum.
Students following the curriculum spend six weeks training with a physician outside of Denver and then do a month's service under the supervision of a physician designated by the school. Students concentrate on either family practice, surgery, or psychiatry, depending on the community and physician they are assigned to.
Dr. Karla Demby of Cortez is one of the physicians certified by the University to train and supervise rotational students. She has served in this capacity for ten years, and holds the title of associate clinical professor at the University. She says the 30-plus students she has supervised have all been outstanding. "We get absolutely top-notch students," from Denver, Demby told a reporter for the local newspaper. "They’re smart. They’re motivated." She noted that one of her students returned to Cortez after graduation and opened her own practice.
Liane Campbell, a University of Colorado medical student doing her rotation in Cortez, has shadowed Dr. Demby through work days that begin at 7 a.m. at the local hospital. Demby and Campbell check on patients, review lab tests and x-rays, and make decisions about further tests and discharges. Later in the morning they begin seeing outpatients. Campbell works with patients directly and, if they have agreed to work with a student doctor, on her own, using templates from Demby to question patients about symptoms and histories. At the end of the day, Demby goes over Campbell's patient notes with her.
Colorado is one of a number of states that face chronic shortages of primary care physicians in rural areas. Cortez itself does not have as many physicians as it should for its population according to national standards. The community is already presently three physicians short of full coverage and expects to lose another physician when a local internist closes her practice later this year.
Source: "Med Student Learns Rural Ropes," by John R. Crane. The Cortez Journal, June 6, 2006
Students following the curriculum spend six weeks training with a physician outside of Denver and then do a month's service under the supervision of a physician designated by the school. Students concentrate on either family practice, surgery, or psychiatry, depending on the community and physician they are assigned to.
Dr. Karla Demby of Cortez is one of the physicians certified by the University to train and supervise rotational students. She has served in this capacity for ten years, and holds the title of associate clinical professor at the University. She says the 30-plus students she has supervised have all been outstanding. "We get absolutely top-notch students," from Denver, Demby told a reporter for the local newspaper. "They’re smart. They’re motivated." She noted that one of her students returned to Cortez after graduation and opened her own practice.
Liane Campbell, a University of Colorado medical student doing her rotation in Cortez, has shadowed Dr. Demby through work days that begin at 7 a.m. at the local hospital. Demby and Campbell check on patients, review lab tests and x-rays, and make decisions about further tests and discharges. Later in the morning they begin seeing outpatients. Campbell works with patients directly and, if they have agreed to work with a student doctor, on her own, using templates from Demby to question patients about symptoms and histories. At the end of the day, Demby goes over Campbell's patient notes with her.
Colorado is one of a number of states that face chronic shortages of primary care physicians in rural areas. Cortez itself does not have as many physicians as it should for its population according to national standards. The community is already presently three physicians short of full coverage and expects to lose another physician when a local internist closes her practice later this year.
Source: "Med Student Learns Rural Ropes," by John R. Crane. The Cortez Journal, June 6, 2006
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