American Academy of Family Physicians


Although AAFP News Now regularly covers developments that affect family physicians on the national level, many of those developments originate in the various AAFP constituent chapters. The Chapter Spotlight series is designed as an opportunity to look at chapters, their members and the innovative ideas being promulgated at the chapter level. Many chapters, their members and their communities struggle with the same problems, and this series allows these stories to be told so other AAFP members can learn from their lessons.
Etasha Bhatt with Idaho AFP mentor, Mikael Bedell, MD
Etasha Bhatt, right, now a second-year medical student, enjoys some downtime during her R/UOP experience in the summer of 2012 under the tutelage of Mikael Bedell, M.D.

Idaho AFP Champions Rural, Underserved Opportunities Program

FPs Win Students' Hearts, Woo Many to Rural Family Medicine

(4/29/2013, 5:00 p.m.)  --  A program's longevity often is an indication of its success. Such is the case with the 24-four-year run of the Idaho Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program (R/UOP), which represents a successful collaboration between the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and the Idaho AFP. The medical school has administrative control of R/UOP, and each year since its inception, the Idaho AFP has allocated $5,000 toward a program that aims to alleviate physician shortages in a state known for its wilderness areas and rural lifestyle. The end goal -- to fill the primary care pipeline with young physicians who will stay in the state to practice -- is so important to Idaho family physicians that a strong core of volunteers for years have introduced medical students to rural family medicine. More