RURAL MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM (RMED)

The RMED curriculum is designed to integrate with the regular curriculum of the College of Medicine at Rockford. The Rockford site is noted for its 30 month, longitudinal, ambulatory, primary care experience provided in the College's rural and small town community health centers. Specific curricula have been developed for all four years of the RMED program. Participation in the RMED curriculum is noted on the student's transcript.

The RMED curricular focus during the first two years is on Foundations in Rural Family and Community Medicine I and II. RMED students begin to develop an understanding of the core concepts of family medicine and the ways physicians can interact with their communities to affect both individual and community health. Students are introduced to public/community health concepts through adult learning techniques. They are encouraged to develop computer skills with assignments utilizing the Internet, online databases and e-mail. Students are exposed to a variety of rural health care topics, settings and providers.

RMED students are encouraged to participate in a summer externship between their first and second years of medical school and student activities provided by the Illinois and American Academy of Family Physicians and the Illinois Rural Health Association.

The theme for the third year is The Interface Between Family Medicine and the Community. Students learn about the concepts involved in community-oriented primary care (COPC). They are taught the skills necessary to design a community project which will be implemented during their fourth year rural preceptorship. In addition, preparation for the many components of the student's fourth year rural clerkship are undertaken. The core concepts of Family Medicine are also related to the regular M3 curriculum and to rural practice.

The fourth year students participate in a 16-week Rural Family Medicine Preceptorship experience which is the capstone of the RMED curriculum. Hospitals and family physicians located in small, rural communities collaborate with the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford to provide a unique educational and clinical experience for the senior students. The preceptorship experience focuses on clinical skill development in a rural setting, the implementation of a community-oriented research or programming project, and a study of the relationship between health and the social, economic, cultural, and political context of the rural community. There are now more than 20 sites for this rural clerkship statewide. Curriculum and faculty development, site visits, and the use of telecommunications facilitate the development, monitoring, and evaluation of this key educational experience.