Rural Health Professions Program

If you're interested in primary care, or practicing medicine in a rural location, RHPP is a fantastic opportunity for you. Physicians in the RHPP program want to serve as mentors for our medical students, helping you to develop a range of clinical skills. RHPP placements often last for years. You'll be able to forge a lasting relationship with the patients and community you serve, getting to know its benefits and attractions, as well as its distinctive medical and social challenges.

The Rural Health Professions Program was developed in response to a mandate from the Arizona State Legislature in 1996. The legislators' aim was to encourage graduates of Arizona's only medical school to practice in smaller Arizona communities where there are physician shortages. RHPP began in 1997 at the University of Arizona College of Medicine with members of the Class of 2000.

By providing community-based training for health professions students, RHPP helps prepare a culturally-competent healthcare workforce for practice in Arizona’s rural and urban underserved communities, where significant primary care provider shortages are felt more acutely.

The program has grown to encompass 60 practice sites in 41 communities across Arizona where students spend a minimum of 11 weeks in residence throughout their medical education. RHPP now has many rural preceptors who were in the program themselves when they were medical students at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. 

• Students participating in the Rural Health Professions Program must attend a 16-week seminar prior to their first preceptorship. This course is designed to help students develop a fundamental understanding of rural health issues prior to experiencing the issues of their host community.
• Each RHPP student is required to spend a minimum of 10 weeks in RHPP rotations throughout their medical education.
• Students will receive a stipend during the initial rotation between years 1 and 2.
• RHPP will provide housing for the student during RHPP rotations.
• Students will be reimbursed for the mileage of one round trip to his/her site during a rotation. In sites close to Tucson, travel reimbursment may be substituted for housing, since students may elect to commute. Students must keep track of odometer readings in order to be reimbursed.

First-year medical students learn about RHPP at an informational meeting each October. Interested students then submit an application for the program. Up to 30 students are selected. Newly selected RHPP students participate in an 18-week seminar series during the second semester of their first year of medical school. This seminar covers relevant topics, including:

• Choosing a rural practice
• Loan repayment programs
• Leadership and workplace issues
• Telemedicine
• Common infectious diseases
• Substance abuse, alcohol, and co-morbid conditions
• Formularies and SOAP notes
• Medical error
• Health systems and health reform
• Public health
• Cultural humility
• Occupational health
• Families and development
• Rural health issues
• Careers in the Public Health and Indian Health Services

Students will also be required to develop a short presentation on the community in which they will complete their initial rotation for the entire class. Students are also required to complete a semi-structured reflection journal while on site in the initial rotation, which is to be emailed to Dr. Landau weekly. Students are matched with physician preceptors in rural Arizona.

Preceptors practice disciplines include:

• Family Medicine
• Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Internal Medicine
• Pediatrics
• General Surgery
• Medicine/Pediatrics

Students may spend two or more rotations with their rural physician preceptor during the four years of medical school. These rotations total a minimum of 10 weeks. 

1. Between Years 1 and 2
2. During Year 3 as an elective clinical rotation and/or as a full or partial clinical clerkship in the disciplines listed above
3. During Year 4 as an elective clinical rotation