Rural medicine and rural training: addressing high-technology care

摘要

The dichotomy was palpable from the moment we first set foot into the medical recruitment fairs. With booths covered in pictures of happy families, loons, lakes and snow-capped mountains, the rural programs seemed to be selling rural medical lifestyles. The message was that rural medicine would be challenging and rugged, but rural programs did not seem to be focused on selling tke medicine itself. On the other extreme, with booths decorated with pictures of shiny space-age hospital facilities, serious white-coated doctors and electrocardiograms, tke urban programs emphasized cutting-edge medicine and training. Learning in an environment with rapid access to modern technology and information was the core of tke urban sales pitck.Is expensive high-tech medicine really better health care? Is rural medicine and training selling itself short?