Rural Student Physician Program (RSPP)
RSPP is a longitudinal, integrated clerkship that provides third-year medical students an immersive clinical community-based experience. Students spend 24 weeks in a rural community learning one-on-one with physician mentors.
Students accepted into the program gain a deep understanding and appreciation for rural primary care medicine. The close apprenticeship-like supervision allows students more opportunities for knowledge growth and skill acquisition – especially those who are self-directed – than is found in most standard rotations.
Participants in RSPP:
- Experience continuity of care with their patients
- Work directly with attending physicians
- Do not have to compete for patients or to perform procedures
- Optimize a schedule tailored to their interest and “go where the action is”
- Gain competency in interdisciplinary problem-solving
- Experience austere medicine at one of many rural Illinois sites