Lexin Wang, M.D, PhD
The study was to compare the characteristics of metropolitan and rural medical schools, and to assess their role in the provision of rural physicians. A survey was conducted in 12 metropolitan and 10 rural medical schools in Mainland China. Information on students' origin, characteristics of undergraduate courses and graduate employment in year 2000 were analyzed. Rural medical schools enrolled fewer students (p=0.019), and produced fewer graduates (p= 0.023) than their metropolitan counterparts. Students in rural medical schools were mainly from surrounding regional cities and counties, whereas those in metropolitan schools were from nationwide (p< 0.001). All rural medical schools, and two of the 12 metropolitan schools, offered designated places for students from rural and remote region. All rural medical schools produced rural physicians; one rural school reported that of its 256 graduates, 88 (34.4%) entered rural practice. Ten of the 12 metropolitan medical schools did not produce any rural physicians, whereas the remaining two metropolitan schools registered a total of 73 graduates who selected a rural practice location. In conclusion, rural medical schools enroll more students from rural and remote area, and are more likely to produce rural physicians than their metropolitan counterparts. These results indicate that rural medical schools play a key role in overcoming the shortage of physicians in rural communities.