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Phase III: Initial Practice Support

Future plans for the establishment of an initial practice entry support system include mentoring by a seasoned rural practitioner and financial and/or emotional support from community institutions, including area hospitals, banking interests, business and educational groups.

Residency Training

The residency training period is three years for family medicine, pediatrics and general internal medicine. Obstetrics/gynecology and combined medicine-pediatrics training is four years. There are also limited number of allowed spots for psychiatry, which is also a four-year program.

The MRPSP Scholar must enter a clinic-based practice (no hospitalists) in an approved rural or medically underserved Mississippi community of 15,000 or fewer residents located more than 20 miles from a medically served area within 90 days of the completion of residency training in one of these six specialties. Documentation of the practice site must be submitted to the MRPSP Board of Directors two months prior to the completion of residency training for approval.

While MRPSP Scholars are not required to complete residency in Mississippi, increased sensitivity to the importance of completing residency training within the state is supported by current research indicating a majority of physicians establish their practice within 100 miles of where they trained. We are "growing our own" primary care physicians.

Primary Care Specialties

• Family Medicine - The patient-physician relationship in the context of the family distinguishes family medicine from other specialties. The family physician's care is both personal and comprehensive, caring for all ages, organ systems, both sexes and type of problem, be it biological, behavioral or social. This care is based on knowledge of the patient in the context of the family and the community, emphasizing disease prevention and health promotion. When referral is indicated, the family physician remains the coordinator of the patient's health care in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
• Internal Medicine - Internal medicine is the branch and specialty of medicine concerning the diagnosis and non surgical treatment of diseases in adults, especially of internal organs. Doctors of internal medicine, also called "internists," are often referred to as the "doctor's doctor" because they are often called upon to act as consultants to other physicians to help solve puzzling diagnostic problems. Doctors of internal medicine treat the whole person, not just internal organs.
• Medicine-Pediatrics (Med-Peds) - Med-Peds is a four-year residency training program offered by the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics that leads to board eligibility in both specialties. The program trains residents for careers in primary care and enables a resident to become well versed in the health care issues of patients from newborn to adolescence to adulthood. Med-Peds cover 24 months of medicine services and 24 months of pediatric services during the four-year residency, rotating between departments every three months.
• Obstetrics-Gynecology (OB-GYN) - OB-GYN focuses on the treatment for women's health, menopause, infertility, obstetrics, genetics, gynecology and urogynecology, adolescent gynecology, gynecologic oncology and reproductive conditions. Virtually every aspect of women's reproductive health is managed by this specialty.
• Pediatrics - Pediatrics is the medical specialty dealing with the development, health and diseases of children which differs from adult medicine in many respects. Congenital defects, genetic variance, immunology, oncology and a host of other issues are unique to the realm of pediatrics. Dedicated to the attainment of the best physical, emotional and social health for infants, children and young people, pediatricians also act as advocates for children in endorsing public education, access to health care and services to children. Much time is devoted to regular health examinations, as well as to preventive medicine through immunizations against such infectious diseases as influenza, meningitis, measles, mumps and chicken pox.