Shannon Claude K, Baker Helen, Jackson Jodie, Roy Abira, Heady Hilda, Gunel Erdogan
West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA.
Educ Health (Abingdon). 2005 Nov;18(3):395-404. doi: 10.1080/13576280500289710.
A shortage of healthcare providers in West Virginia led to the creation of a statewide, community-based program with a required three-month rural experience for most state-sponsored health professions students. Project description: Initiated using funding from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and expanded using both state funds and Area Health Education Center support, the West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships (WVRHEP) program impacts institutions of higher learning, 50 counties, and 332 training sites, and all students in state-funded health professions schools. A longitudinal database has been constructed to study program effects on students' reported attitudes, service orientation, and career intents.
Baseline data are collected from medical students, and students in all disciplines provide feedback on rotations and information about career intents, social responsibility, and attitudes towards rural practice.
Data indicate an association between perceived quality of the rural experience and increased interest in rural health, social responsibility and confidence in becoming part of the community. Medical students may tend to rate social responsibility higher after completion of the first rural rotation. Students who anticipate practice in smaller towns also tend to rate the quality of the rotation higher, to anticipate careers in primary care, and to acknowledge social responsibility.
As WVRHEP program graduates who have completed these surveys enter practice, both personal and community-specific program characteristics may be identified which strengthen interest in rural practice. The predictive validity of intermediate outcomes of attitudes and career intents in forecasting the ultimate outcomes of recruitment and retention may be studied.
西弗吉尼亚州医疗服务提供者短缺，因此创建了一个全州范围的、基于社区的项目，要求大多数由州政府资助的健康专业学生有为期三个月的农村实习经历。项目描述：西弗吉尼亚农村健康教育伙伴关系（WVRHEP）项目最初由W.K.凯洛格基金会提供资金启动，并利用州资金和地区健康教育中心的支持进行扩展，该项目影响了高等院校、50个县、332个培训地点以及所有由州政府资助的健康专业学校的学生。已构建一个纵向数据库，以研究该项目对学生报告的态度、服务导向和职业意向的影响。
从医学生那里收集基线数据，所有学科的学生都要就轮转情况提供反馈，并提供有关职业意向、社会责任以及对农村医疗实践态度的信息。
数据表明，农村实习经历的感知质量与对农村医疗、社会责任以及融入社区的信心增加之间存在关联。医学生在完成第一次农村轮转后可能会倾向于对社会责任给出更高的评分。预计在小镇行医的学生也往往会对轮转质量给出更高评分，预计从事初级保健职业，并认可社会责任。
随着完成这些调查的WVRHEP项目毕业生进入医疗实践，可能会确定个人和特定社区的项目特征，这些特征会增强对农村医疗实践的兴趣。可以研究态度和职业意向的中期结果在预测招聘和留用最终结果方面的预测效度。
