Small towns often struggle to find family-care physicians, because of lower pay and higher medical school debts, as well as schools' push for students to specialize and a more frequent schedule of being on night call. But family physicians say that these are all worth it for the benefits of small-town medical practice, where doctors really get to know their patients and their families.
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, the nation needs 41.6 family physicians per 100,000 people, but had only 31.2 per 100,000 in 2005. AAFP spokeswoman Leslie Champlin said medical schools can help by enrolling students from rural areas who might not have perfect test scores or research experience: "They want to go home and practice medicine." John Weiss of the Post-Bulletin in Rochester, Minn., writes that the organization "wants Congress to increase money to help ease the financial burden of those who practice in rural areas." (Read more)
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