Given the high prevalence of unintended pregnancy and early pregnancy failure, family physicians frequently encounter these clinical problems. Early abortion care and miscarriage management are within the scope of family medicine, yet few family medicine residency programs' curricula routinely include training in these skills. Comprehensive reproductive health education for family physicians co...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a significant source of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Colonoscopy can be an extension of the care provided by a family physician to help substantially reduce CRC morbidity and mortality. Family physicians trained in colonoscopy can provide access to care in rural and medically underserved areas. METHODS The Department of Fam...

Ihave been a female physician in “rural” general practice for 24 years. My husband is a rural doctor, as was my father. I have seen rural medicine before and after medicare, in the east and in the west, by sea and by mountains, in depressed and in prosperous areas, and in communities supported by fishing, farming and forestry. As the first female physician in 2 communities and, for most of the ...

INTRODUCTION Although rural medicine interest groups (RMIGs) are prevalent in Canadian medical schools, there is little research on their contribution to rural education, training and careers. METHODS We explored 2 broad questions by means of an electronic survey to people who were RMIG participants at McMaster University from 2002 to 2007: 1) What are the experiences of undergraduate trainee...

From the St Mark’s Family Medicine Residency Program, Salt Lake City. The decision to leave rural practice and return to academia has been the most difficult one in all my life. This essay reflects on experiences and people that go through my mind as I move through the hospital on morning rounds. A once suicidal nurse is now getting remarried, another carries a scar that I feel responsible for,...