Training Needs for Rural Primary Care Practice: A Scoping Review of Resident Physician Preparation

Some graduate medical education programs focus on the preparation of physicians for rural primary care practice. More exploration is needed to understand what is taught and how medical educators prepare resident and fellow physicians for rural practice. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify the primary dimensions of the concept of graduate medical education competencies for rural practice settings and describe the related evidence and gaps in the literature.

In 2024, we used a modified PRISMA-ScR approach to identify studies that addressed the unique training needs and competencies of residents intending practice in a rural area of the United States. For our study, we gathered peer-reviewed materials from a 10 year period (2013-2023) using PubMed as our data source.

A total of 423 articles were identified. We screened abstracts and manuscripts, and included 22 articles. Eleven articles (50%) described training in preparation for rural practice, including two concerning fellowship-level graduate medical education. Five (23%) articles described residency or fellowship training occurring in rural areas. Six (27%) articles described studies involving focused training occurring in rural versus nonrural locations.

Limited literature exists to systematically define the graduate medical education competencies required for eventual rural practice. This gap necessitates a clearer framework for training and preparing physicians for these settings.