Young doctors get to know life as a country doctor

Inspiring the next generation of doctors for rural areas while they are still studying - this is the goal of the LOCALHERO research project, which is now starting its second round. 25 students from Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H) are travelling again and completing an internship in a rural doctor's practice in Soest, Olpe, the Märkischer Kreis or Sauerland.

From 13 to 17 February 2023, the prospective doctors will once again visit the practices where they were able to get a taste of life as a country doctor last summer. The week is flanked by a wide range of offers from the districts - such as workshops in hospitals, joint medical, political and social events and various leisure activities to explore the region.

LOCALHERO is funded by the Federal Ministry of Health with 1.7 million euros

"The feedback from the students in summer 2022 was consistently positive. Rural medical practices and districts have worked hard to demonstrate the benefits locally," says Dr Lucas Bisplinghoff, who is supporting the project at the Institute of General Practice and Primary Care at Witten/Herdecke University. "But the comprehensive and patient-centred medicine provided on site was also impressive. The districts and participating medical practices were also impressed and are looking forward to many more fulfilling encounters."

"I'm doing my internship at a practice in Olpe and was pleasantly surprised at how close the bond is with the patients there. Nobody there is sent home without a treatment approach or at least a plan of action," reports medical student Justus Klein. "I'm now looking forward to being in patient contact during my internship and putting my knowledge into practice."

The cross-university project aims to counteract the shortage of doctors in rural areas

There is already a shortage of GPs in some regions of North Rhine-Westphalia. This trend will worsen in the coming years due to the age structure of the medical profession. Against this background, the joint project LOCALHERO* was launched in 2022. The project is supported by the Federal Ministry of Health as a "training programme to promote medical practice in rural areas" with 1.7 million euros.

In the project, the institutes of general medicine at the universities of Duisburg-Essen, Bochum, Düsseldorf and Witten/Herdecke are jointly developing new practice-based teaching concepts to get students interested in and qualified for general practice. These include regular internships in trained teaching practices, which are prepared and supplemented by a special seminar programme at the universities. Targeted mentoring of students is also a component of the programme.

In order to attract the next generation of doctors to work as rural doctors, positive experiences on site are needed at an early stage. It is therefore particularly important to establish and consolidate synergies between universities and municipalities in NRW so that more internships can be offered outside of the state's urban regions and remote teaching practices can be more closely involved in the training of future doctors. Ultimately, the project should help to ensure that people in NRW continue to receive GP care close to home in the future.

This summer, 25 new students will start as an additional cohort in 2023. In addition to new medical practices in the districts already involved, the district of Siegen will also be represented for the first time.

*The acronym of the LOCALHERO research project stands for: "LOngitudinal curriculum ALl general practice to strengthen GP care in rural regiOns".