Using microcomputers in rural preceptorships

Current U.S. health manpower forecasts indicate an oversupply of physicians. In the Intermountain Region this oversupply is concentrated in the medical and surgical subspecialties, not in primary care specialties. Students cite fear of not knowing all that a general field requires as a reason for focusing their studies in a narrow area. Because ambulatory care experiences are not required of medical students at Utah, it is difficult to recruit students into the primary care specialties. One means of exposing students to primary care and rural medicine is through the clinical preceptorship. Beginning in 1985, with a grant from the National Library of Medicine, clinical students who elected the rural family practice preceptorship were given lap-top microcomputers to take with them to their preceptorship sites. Students were taught how to operate the computer and how to perform a MEDLINE search. Student evaluations of the experience were high and students reported feeling less concerned about the knowledge explosion and positive about improving their ability to access current medical literature. It is anticipated that by teaching students how to use this technology to provide better patient care, they will be more likely to consider primary care practices in rural areas.