Family medicine should preferentially encourage the creation of residency programs and other training experiences in smaller towns. The various branches of family medicine should coordinate their rural efforts closely, with the assistance of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and report annually on the progress of rural medical education. References First Report of the Council on Graduate Medical Education. Study of models to meet rural health care needs through mobilization of health professions education and services resources. Supply and distribution of health professionals in rural America.
Medical schools can indeed produce family physicians.
Study of rural programs in family practice residencies. Society of Family Medicine Group on Rural Health, 1995. Recruitment, retention, and follow-up of graduates of a program to increase the number of family physicians in rural and underserved areas. An educational needs assessment of rural family physicians. Report on program and graduates, 1991.