The medical school without walls: who will be the faculty?

To involve community physicians as medical school faculty, a survey was completed to establish the needs of 64 community physicians participating in a third-year family medicine clerkship. We received 48 responses that indicated issues of practice regulation, training office staff, and local continuing medical education were highest priority needs. The 27 respondents in rural areas placed more emphasis on issues of referral/consultation, recruiting of physician associates, and faculty development. As a result of the survey, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has implemented a comprehensive strategy to address the stated needs, with special emphasis on a rural health initiative. This strategy includes a special program for faculty to provide rural practice coverage technical assistance for practice management, a rural communications network, faculty development, and provider recruitment. The goal of this strategy is to continue developing the "medical school without walls."