Study sheds light on rural doctors

The Golden Plains are blessed with many talented physicians, but recruiting doctors to rural America is always a challenge.

A new study by the University of Nebraska Medical Center seems to indicate that when it comes to recruiting, we'll have the best success close to home.

Or, at least, somewhere that feels like home.

Paul Paulman, M.D., found that the pioneer spirit is alive and well in rural Nebraska.

"I had this hypothesis that rural doctors enjoy the outdoors or had outdoor hobbies that would attract them to practice in rural areas, and that they were very independent," Paulman said.

Southwest Nebraska, with plentiful golf, boating, fishing and hunting, has used those factors to advantage in the past.

But Paulman and co-investigators Elisabeth Backer, M.D., Helen McIlvain, Ph.D., and Ryan Ramaekers, M.D., found factors that were closer to the office.

Interviewing 11 rural physicians, they found the following common characteristics:

* All but one grew up in a rural setting.

* Most had a role model growing up, whether related or not, who also practiced medicine.

* They enjoyed the wide scope of their practice.

The researchers found that the 11 physicians "defined themselves as independent-minded, relationship-driven, resourceful and trustworthy practitioners," according to the article, published in the Spring 2006 issue of the Journal of Rural Health.

"These doctors were more service oriented as opposed to science oriented," Paulman said, and earning a large income was not as important to them as providing service to their community.

"What we hope to do with the findings is to use them in the admissions process and identify those potential students who would be most likely to set up practice in a rural community," said Paulman, who hails from the small town of Sutherland, Neb.

What lesson is to be learned?

Clearly, when it comes to finding the physicians and, by extension, other important professionals that our communities need, we'll have the best success by growing our own.