Students at MU's AHECs do three rotations, choosing from pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, psychology and neurology, and internal medicine. Local doctors serve as their preceptors. The medical school helps the students keep up with their studies by providing them with high-speed Internet service, access to electronic medical libraries and interactive video.

"We didn't want our rural track students to be disadvantaged in any way," Webb says.

Laura Morris, a Bryant Scholar, spent her summer last year working in a six-physician practice in Boonville. "I had a great experience there. It was very encouraging," she says. This in spite of the fact that there was only one CT scanner available at the local hospital, the emergency room was tiny and the range of laboratory testing was limited. "But patients were still receiving the best standard of care," Morris says. "It was eye-opening to me that I could practice in a place like that without feeling I was shorting someone the tests they needed or the best care."

This year, Morris is in St. Joseph, working at clinics operated by Heartland Health, the parent organization of Heartland Regional Medical Center and sponsor of MU's AHEC there. Morris lives across the street from the medical center in a small brick ranch house that the AHEC maintains for students in the program.

On her own in a new town, Morris can feel isolated at times. She misses her husband, a banker in Columbia. A few other students live in the house with her, but she rarely sees them. "We cross paths, but none of us are doing the same rotation," she says.

But usually, there just isn't time for her to be lonesome. She researches cases for the doctors with whom she works, keeps up with lectures at MU via the web, and reads reams of medical literature. And, of course, seeing patients is a full-time job.

Morris works at Heartland Women's Health, a bustling nine-physician practice. As the only local practice with obstetrical privileges at the Heartland Regional Medical Center, it's constantly busy with women from throughout northwest Missouri and neighboring counties in Kansas and Iowa. Morris works side by side with her preceptor, obstetrician-gynecologist Padma Veligati. Veligati briefs her on each patient and supervises Morris in the exam rooms. Morris looks over Veligati's shoulder as she writes in each patient's chart. "She makes sure I see what I need to see, that I take the right sample or measure the right thing," Morris says.

Published by the Office of Research.

©2006 Curators of the University of Missouri. Click here to contact the editor.