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CHEERS: A Tennessee Rural Partnership Program

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Mar 18, 2013 01:21 PM
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CHEERS: A Tennessee Rural Partnership Program

For a number of years, the Tennessee Primary Care Association (TPCA) was the recipient of a federally funded SEARCH grant (student/resident experiences and rotations in community health) to support rural/underserved rotations for health professions students and medical residents. The SEARCH program was terminated in September 2012. However, due to the successes of the administration of the SEARCH program by TCPA and the Tennessee Rural Partnership’s (TRP) rural rotation program, a consensus was reached by the leadership of these groups that a joint program would be developed to focus on the most efficient and useful strategies and resources of each organization and their partners.

Funding for the program’s continuation will be provided by TRP. The goal of the new program will be to encourage rural practice rotations to provide better access to primary care in the state of Tennessee. The new program, to be called CHEERS (community health educational experiences for residents and students), will focus on the pipeline approach of reaching out to students and residents to cultivate an interest in practicing in rural or underserved areas. The organizations also will help provide a seamless transition from student/trainee status into the practice of medicine, which is consistent with the mission of both organizations.

CHEERS will utilize social media to attract and track participants as they continue their education and enter practice. For additional information about the program, contact Mary Ann Watson, Network Director, at maryann.watson@tnrp.org.

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