Increasing the supply of women physicians in rural areas: outcomes of a medical school rural program

Abstract

Background: Women physicians are less likely then men to practice in rural areas. With women representing an increasing proportion of physicians, there is concern that this could exacerbate the rural physician shortage. The Physician Shortage Area Program (PSAP) of Jefferson Medical College (JMC) is one of a small number of medical school rural programs shown to be successful in addressing the rural physician shortage; however, little is known about their specific impact on women.

Methods: For 2394 physicians from the 1992 to 2002 JMC graduating classes, the 2007 practice location and specialty for PSAP and non-PSAP graduates were obtained from the Jefferson Longitudinal Study. The relative likelihood of PSAP versus non-PSAP graduates practicing in rural areas was determined for women and men and compared.

Results: Women PSAP graduates were more than twice as likely as non-PSAP women to practice in rural areas (31.7% vs 12.3%; relative risk, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.6-4.2). This was similar to the PSAP outcomes for men (51.8% vs 17.7%; relative risk, 2.9, 95% CI, 2.2-3.9; relative risk ratio, 0.9, 95% CI, 0.5-1.5). PSAP outcomes were also similar for women and men practicing rural family medicine and rural primary care.

Conclusion: These results provide support that medical school rural programs have the potential to help address the serious shortage of women physicians in rural areas, thereby increasing access to care for those living there.