Rural Content on United States Medical School Websites

Abstract

Introduction: Promising strategies for increasing the number of primary care physicians practicing in rural America include admitting medical students from rural areas, as they are more likely to practice in rural settings; and introducing rural clinical experiences into medical school curricula. However, prepandemic estimates suggest that US medical schools have low rates of rural student recruitment strategies and rural curricular opportunities on their webpages. Methods: We performed a website analysis of US allopathic and osteopathic medical schools to provide a contemporary estimate of the frequency of content related to rural student recruitment and rural health care opportunities. Results: Among 223 US medical schools, we identified 199 unique websites, of which 24% had a diversity statement including rural students; 30% of mission statements mentioned rural students or serving rural populations. Most schools (70%) offered rural rotations; 39% advertised rural-focused scholarships and 29% listed rural student organizations. Few schools (29%) had a rural pathway program and 12% reported rural representation through admission statistics. The median number of rural elements (scale: 0 to 7) amongst all schools was 2 (1, 3) and 23.1% of schools had zero elements. Public medical schools had more rural elements than private schools (Wilcoxon: 3 [1, 4] vs 2 [1, 3]; P<0.001). Conclusion: Our assessment of medical school websites found low frequencies of content related to rural student recruitment and rural health care opportunities. These findings highlight opportunities for improving recruitment of rural students and training future rural physicians.