University of Washington medical school alumni who trained in rural locations in school were twice as likely to establish a practice in a rural area, a study published Feb. 1 in the journal Academic Medicine found.
The study, led by Seattle-based UW Medicine, focused on 994 students from the university's school of medicine who graduated between 2009 and 2014 and whose physician work could be tracked after graduation.
Researchers found 570 of the alumni surveyed participated in the Rural Underserved Opportunities Program, and 111 were currently working in rural communities after their training. Regression models predicted that participants of the program were about 1.8 times more likely to work in a rural area after completing their training.
The study also found that students who grew up in rural areas were more likely to have been interested in participating in RUOP and to later choose to practice in a rural area.
"The findings of this study emphasize that educational programs and policies are crucial public health interventions that can promote health equity through proper distribution of health care workers across rural regions of the United States," the study said.