Aurora BayCare becomes first teaching hospital for rural curriculum in northeastern Wisconsin

The goal of the program is to reduce the physician shortage in rural communities.

Five medical students currently starting at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison will complete their degree in the greater Green Bay area. Aurora BayCare Medical Center is northeastern Wisconsin's first teaching hospital for students enrolled in the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine (WARM).

"The health of our communities will be affected by the dwindling number of physicians wanting to practice in rural areas," stated Paul Summerside, M.D., director of medical education for Aurora BayCare Medical Center and chief medical officer at BayCare Clinic. "This program not only helps to combat a rising issue, it helps to further establish Green Bay as a destination for health care."

Starting in July 2011, third year medical students enrolled in WARM at UW-Madison, will be completing their last two years of medical school learning from Aurora Health Care and BayCare Clinic physicians at Aurora BayCare Medical Center. Each year, a new group of medical students will begin their final two years of medical school in Green Bay.

By completing their clinical requirements in a regional and rural learning community, the medical students will learn to address the health care needs of rural citizens, while benefiting from small learning groups.

"Since most rural clinics do not have the same technology capabilities as what's available onsite at regional medical centers, physicians practicing in the rural clinics must practice a bit differently," said Byron Crouse, M.D., associate dean for rural and community health and professor of family medicine at UW-Madison*. "The students learning medicine through the WARM program will be prepared to address those medical needs when they get out into the field."

This isn't the first time Aurora BayCare has worked with UW-Madison's medical students. While building Aurora BayCare's teaching curriculum over the past two years, 100 medical students have completed various third and fourth year rotations at Aurora BayCare. Starting with the WARM students, all required rotations for an M.D. degree at UW-Madison will be offered through the Green Bay hospital.

Green Bay is the third regional site to receive WARM medical students, following Marshfield and La Crosse.

*Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine is a rural education program within the M.D. program curriculum at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. The program aims to increase the number of physicians practicing in rural Wisconsin and to improve the health of Wisconsin communities.