Dr Roxana Surugiu - Student Perceptions of Rural Health in Romania

Dr Roxana Surugiu is a family doctor, researcher and lecrurer at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Craiova in Romania.  In this episode we learn about rural health in Romania and the findings of her research on the perception of rural practice among medical students in Romania. Episode Summary: 00.55  Roxana tells us about her professional background and how she got involved in rural health 02.30  What is family medicine training like in Romania? 05.00  Are medical students exposed to rural practice during undergraduate training? 06.10  How is primary care organized in Romania? 08.30  What are the challenges that the rural community faces and what are the challenges for the clinicians? 12.15  What happens in emergency situations?   14.30  What does a usual work week look like? 18.30  Has rural digital health been developed in Romania? 21.45  What were the findings of the research on medical student perception on rural health? 28.20  What is the perception of family medicine in academic circles? 31.30  What are your top three tips for going into a rural health career?   Key Messages: Family medicine residency training lasts for 4 years in Romania, two years are spent in family medicine and there is a 2 week rotation in a rural practice.   Medical students spend one month in family medicine during the 6th year of medical school, they will usually have one or two weeks in a rural practice. Distance, education and low socioeconomic status can present barriers to accessing healthcare. The local primary care team where she works have made efforts to improve healthcare understanding and provide information to patients.   The primary care team provides emergency care and out of hours care, when there are more serious emergencies the ambulance service can take the patient to hospital when needed.   The primary healthcare centers in Romania are staffed 24h a day by family doctors.  Student exposure to rural practice increases interest in rural medicine and increases their medical skills. Family medicine was not a choice for older family medicine doctors, it just happened to them.  This has given family medicine a negative perception among medical specialties.  Additionally there is a final exam which is scored and based on this it indicates what specialty you can do.  Lower scores are needed to go into family medicine residency and this also leads to a bad perception of family medicine. Exposure to family medicine and rural medicine is very important as a way to improve the perception of these specialties. A rotation into rural practice in the final year of medical school has only been happening for the past few years.  There is still a long way to go to improve student exposure to family medicine and rural practice.  Exposure should happen at an earlier stage of training.  Top 3 tips: Have an open mind.   Build a relationship with the community and gain their trust. Seek continuous education, be exposed to conferences, academic environment and learn from your patients.   Rural Health Compass - Navigating rural health and policy. Thank you for listening to the Rural Road to Health!