An Assessment of Practice Support and Continuing Medical Education Needs of Rural Pennsylvania Family Physicians. Fall 1996 - Volume 12, No. 5. An Assessment of Practice Support and Continuing Medical Education Needs of Rural Pennsylvania Family Physicians.
Family physicians provide the greatest proportion of care in rural communities.
Yet, the number of physicians choosing family practice and rural practice has continued to decline. Undesirable aspects of rural practice, such as professional isolation and a lack of or inadequate resources, are assumed to be associated with this decline. This article reports on the practice support and continuing medical education needs of rural family physicians. A mail survey was conducted in 1993 on a purposive sample of family physicians in 39 of 67 rural-designated or urban Pennsylvania counties with low population densities. The physicians identified needs that included patient education materials and programs, community health promotion, federal regulation updates, technical assistance with computers and business management, database software and a videotape lending library, a drug hotline, and mini-fellowships on clinical skill development.