Kentucky School Graduates First Class of Primary Care Doctors Trained to Practice in Rural Areas

Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine in Pikeville, Ky., founded with a mission to train primary care physicians for rural communities, will graduate its first class of doctors this spring. More than 90% of its first class of graduates have selected residencies in primary care, "the jack-of-all-trades type of medicine needed in small towns," the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. More significantly, of the 53-person class, 21 are entering residencies in Appalachia, and medical school Dean Dr. John Stosnider said more students would have chosen residencies in Kentucky if spots were available. But observers are waiting to see where the graduates choose to practice in 2004, after completing three years of advanced medical training. Doctors typically practice near where they have completed their residencies, so "keeping them closer to home" not only increases the amount of medical care available in a community in the short term, it also increases the possibility that the new doctors will remain in the area, according to the Herald-Leader. However, many Pikeville graduates say they eventually plan to practice medicine in Kentucky, regardless of where they complete their residencies. As an added incentive to remain in Kentucky, Pikeville, a private school, offers scholarship money that equalizes the tuition between it and state medical schools; for every year a student receives the scholarship, he or she must practice medicine in Kentucky. Of the school's 239-student body, 126 receive the scholarship. Dr. Berretta Casey, a physician practicing in Eastern Kentucky, said that the state's rural areas have an urgent need for doctors, with five out of 30 in the Pikeville areas likely to retire in the near future. "If we don't replace them, I don't know what we'll do. [Patients] will fall through the cracks. It's close to a crisis," she said (Lannen, Lexington Herald-Leader, 5/11).