The education and research that occurs at the University of Kansas Medical Center stretches far outside the 39th and Rainbow corridor. KU Medical Center maintains its presence all over the state through an elaborate connection of doctors, nurses, and the programs they support. Connecting students and faculty with those practicing medicine in the state’s outlying areas is among the Medical Center’s most important missions.

"Without a network of physicians throughout Kansas who support the work of the Medical Center, we would have no impact in the state," said Mary Beth Warren, director of the state Area Health Education Centers. "The doctors have a passion for what they are doing, and the students get experience they won’t get elsewhere."

John Shell, MD, is one of those rural Kansas physicians providing practical experience for students by hosting preceptorships at a clinic in Burlington. Dr. Shell welcomes a few students every year, and does his best to spark their interest in practicing medicine in rural areas in Kansas, many of which are facing severe shortages of health care providers.

The key selling point, Dr. Shell said, is that students in rural preceptorships get a wide variety of exposure to different medical situations.

"Students get to do things earlier in their medical experience," he said. "They sit in on births during their second year instead of their third or fourth. It gets them excited about medicine and interested in family practice."

Part of the mission for Warren and others is to utilize the relationships between rural doctors and the Medical Center to generate interest among students in pursuing such careers.

"The program is a wonderful recruitment tool," Warren says. "There are great success stories of people who did rural preceptorships and then returned to practice in that area. It exposes them to a certain quality of life and culture that can be very appealing."

Alyson Blevins, who completed a preceptorship with Dr. Shell this past spring, says the wide range of experiences in Burlington was important to her.

"I got to do a lot and see a lot, from working in the clinic to being on call in the ER to helping deliver babies," she said. "It’s just you and the doctor, so you get to do small procedures and don’t have to compete with the residents to get time with patients."

Blevins, who plans to practice in a rural area upon finishing her medical education, said the most memorable part of the experience was simply spending time with a rural doctor who had so clearly cultivated important relationships with patients. Urban practices are more narrowed and specialized, she said, while small town life creates a more rewarding experience.

Recent KU School of Medicine graduate Jonathon Salava, MD, says the diversity of experience was also what convinced him of the virtues of a rural practice.

"I was able to utilize tools from all my prior clerkships in one month. In some instances, Dr. Shell even involved me in the management of diseases that I had yet to encounter," Salava said. "After witnessing the way that all the care providers interact with each other, I can’t envision practicing anywhere but a rural community."

The sentiment is echoed by another recent visitor to Burlington, recent graduate Sarah Bradshaw, MD, who learned lessons not easily found in urban practices.

"You have to know a bit of everything, because there’s no specialist to consult just down the hall," she said. "These doctors also know how to get the most bang for their health care buck. The budget is tight, so tests are not run unless their outcome will significantly affect the care of the patient – yet the patients receive excellent care."

Working in one of the state’s rural counties may not be for every medical student or new doctor. But Dr. Shell said it’s hard to argue with the "one-two punch" of a broad clinical experience and a growing number of patients.

"When I arrived in 1993 we delivered three babies, and last year we delivered 100," he said. "We had 1,500 active patient charts then and 13,000 today. It’s important to get more doctors out here, and the appeal of rural Kansas is that you can experience almost everything medicine has to offer. You get not only a diverse patient base, but also a great quality of life." +