Efforts to Recruit Medical Students From Rural Counties: A Model to Evaluate Recruitment Efforts

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Rural Health Disparities
• Physician Workforce Development

Background:

• Physician supply in North Carolina (NC) outpaced population growth over 40 years.
• Significant disparities exist in physician distribution, with urban areas having more physicians.
• Rural counties face persistent challenges in healthcare access and health equity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of pipeline programs aimed at recruiting rural students to the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine (UNC SOM).
• To assess the impact of recruitment efforts on increasing the proportion of rural students in medical school admissions.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive analyses comparing rural and urban applicants, interviewees, and accepted students at UNC SOM.
• Estimation of the potential rural applicant pool based on college-educated individuals aged 18-34 in NC counties.
• Analysis of application data from 2017-2019.

Main Results:

• Approximately 10.9% of the eligible college-educated young adult population in NC resides in rural counties.
• Between 2017-2019, 9.3% of UNC SOM applicants were from rural counties.
• An additional 14 rural applicants per year would align UNC SOM applicant proportions with the rural population.

Conclusions:

• The analytical model effectively quantified the impact of recruitment initiatives on achieving proportional representation of rural students.
• Addressing rural physician shortages requires multifaceted strategies across medical education and healthcare.
• Enhancing rural college completion rates is crucial for future pipeline program success and can be modeled.