What evidence-based undergraduate interventions promote rural health?

This article identifies published reports of medical undergraduate rural programmes from international medical schools and investigates the features making these programmes successful in recruiting and retaining rural physicians.

Literature review.

Ten successful programmes were identified. Common features included selective admission, curricular focus on primary care/family medicine, community-based teaching, and community/rural preceptorship. A strong association exists between rural background of the student and choice of both a rural career and a career in primary care. Medical students of rural origin with an initial interest in a generalist career are significantly more likely to enter rural practice. Community preceptorship with its high staff:student ratio has been effective in influencing students' career choices.

The effectiveness of a medical undergraduate rural programme in preparing and recruiting physicians for rural practice does not occur with one isolated strategy but with a chronological sequence of interventions. The most effective programmes consider both pre-medical school and medical school educational factors. Medical schools would need to implement a combination of these strategies when designing a programme to maximise success.