Establishing a Rural Surgery Training Program: A Large Community Hospital, Expert Subspecialty Faculty, Specific Goals and Objectives in Each Subspecialty, and an Academic Environment Lay a Foundation

Association Between Dedicated Rural Training Year and the Likelihood of Becoming a General Surgeon in a Small Town

“…Particularly needed are skills such as Caesarian section and treatment of common gynecologic conditions, hand injuries, urologic emergencies, tonsillectomies, and fracture management. 9 Surgery residencies whose residents rotate only to large urban or metropolitan hospitals are hampered in gaining adequate experience to treat these conditions by the presence of competing learners, residents in the specialties of surgery. Unless the residency does not have specialty residency programs, deliberate planning of a rural focus or track is necessary to demonstrate the joy of small-town living and impart confidence in an expanded set of knowledge and skills.…”

Rural Surgery Training Programs in the United States: A Review of the Literature

“…The general surgery residency at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in LaCrosse, Wisconsin began in 1974 (1,2,11). The residency is an unopposed general surgery residency with a long term emphasis in preparing general surgery graduates for rural practice (4).…”

“…Rural surgery training programs have been developed to train general surgeons for community rural service. There are 11 rural surgery training programs in the United States discussed below that are recognized by the Advisory Council for Rural Surgery for the American College of Surgeons (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)11). In addition to these, there are other training programs around the country with rural emphasis who train general surgeons to practice in rural areas.…”

“…A major problem facing both general surgery and rural surgery is the national shortage of general surgeons, leaving rural surgery in a crisis over the deficit of providers, which is discussed elsewhere (1)(2)(3)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). Less medical students are choosing general surgery (17,18).…”

“…Rural surgery programs have been developed to address the above problems and attract graduating general surgeons to communities and rural areas. These programs provide broad experiences, rural general surgery, and endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures (1). Rural preceptors are able to mentor and proctor surgery residents and serve as surgery role models (3).…”