A rural and regional community multi-specialty residency training network developed by the University of Western Ontario

Traditionally, specialty vocational/residency training is totally done in tertiary care university-hospital settings, making it very difficult for specialty residents to learn about the joys and challenges of rural and regional patient care.

The University of Western Ontario's Multi-Specialty Community Training Network (MSCTN) was developed to provide specialty residents with the opportunity to do part of their postgraduate vocational training in rural and regional practice settings. The network involves 10 medical school departments/divisions and 7 rural/regional communities. From 1997 to 2004, 174 residents have completed 287 months of rural/regional training.

Residents rated their overall learning experience at 6.41 on a 7-point scale. Nineteen of the 39 graduating residents have chosen to practice in rural and regional underserviced communities.

Rural/regional specialty postgraduate vocational training rotations can provide excellent learning experiences. Preliminary results indicate that this exposure encourages many specialty residents to establish rural and regional practices.