Rural areas are finding new ways to overcome shortages of doctors and nurses; stories from Maine and Montana

Dr. Kaycee Gardner in Miles City, Mont. (Photo by Amy Lynn Nelson)

Rural America is set to have one of the largest physician shortages by 2030, and nurses are likewise in short supply in rural areas.

Montana is already feeling the pinch and has been looking for ways to recruit and retain young physicians. "The greatest predictors for who will become a rural physician boils down to specialty and background," reports Emily Schabacker of the Billings Gazette. "Family medicine physicians are better positioned to serve rural populations than those who opt for more specialized training. And physicians raised in rural places are more likely to return to rural places to practice, making rural recruitment more important than ever."

One challenge facing Montana has been the lack of student interaction with medical professionals and very limited opportunities for high-school students to shadow doctors. Dr. KayCee Gardner, who practices in Miles City, Mont., "grew up 35 miles south of Broadus, where only a physician’s assistant and a nurse cared for the community," Shacbacker writes. "Not knowing any doctors growing up, Gardner never thought she’d end up in the medical field. No recruitment programs or career summer camps came to her corner of Montana."

To encourage their rural physician development, RiverStone Health created the RiverStone Health MedStart camp, which "aims to expose high schoolers from rural communities to careers in medicine," Schabacker reports. Camp organizer Nikole Bakko told her, "Every county in the state has been represented at one of the five participating health centers since the camp began in 2010. . . . Rural students aren’t being exposed to (careers in medicine). With MedStart we’re able to show them opportunities they don’t typically see."

The medical-provider shortage is not limited to physicians. "Rural hospitals have endured physician shortages for decades, but the staffing dearth that followed the pandemic has made staffing challenges even worse. As a result, critical access hospitals are relying more on traveling nurses," reports Schabaker. Rich Rasmussen, CEO of Montana Hospital Association, said the high cost of traveling nurses are and expense that has threatened to sink the state’s larger hospital systems.

In Maine, the most rural state in the country, is addressing its nursing shortage and the additional costs with a "Grow Your Own" model. Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor "partners with rural hospitals to provide nursing education close to home for students who would rather not come into the city," reports Nichole Dobo of The Hechinger Report, which covers education. "Now in its sixth year, the program is helping the community college increase enrollment in a job that’s in great demand. And it is reaching students who might otherwise struggle with transportation costs (especially during a period of epically high gas prices), family responsibilities or just a preference for staying close to home."

Maine is also reaching out to more non-traditional students. Emily Thompson, "then 47, had recently re-entered the workforce as a cashier after raising her child. A woman came into the store, worried about getting gas into her car because she had forgotten her wallet. As she helped the woman with the electronic payment app on her smartphone, she noticed her name tag: Pilar Burmeister, director of the nursing program" at the college, Dobo writes. "Now, she’s looking forward to May when she plans to graduate as an R.N. and leave her cashier days behind."

The program "partners with rural hospitals to provide nursing education close to home for students who would rather not come into the city," Dobo reports. "Now in its sixth year, the program is helping the community college increase enrollment in a job that’s in great demand. And it is reaching students who might otherwise struggle with transportation costs (especially during a period of epically high gas prices), family responsibilities or just a preference for staying close to home."

Pilar Burmeister, director of the program, told Dobo, “It’s a win-win for everybody. We get to increase our rolls. Hospitals win because they get nurses. Students win on saving time and money.”

Also, "This rural focus helps community colleges train more people who are likely to stick around in the rural hospital after they graduate," Dobo notes. Thompson told her, “It is going to be a bit of a new lease on life for me. I wasn’t making a bunch of money at the store. I liked working there. But this is a real career for me.”