STUDENTS TRAIN WITH CAPE, SIKESTON DOCS

Local physicians are working with medical students in an effort to cultivate the next generation of Missouri doctors and surgeons.

Approximately 100 doctors from Sikeston and Cape Girardeau allow junior and senior students from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine to observe them as they work with patients. The students work closely with the doctors, who evaluate their performance and send their results to school representatives.

"I just thought it would be fun," said Dr. John Hall, a Cape Girardeau urologist who is director of medical education for the Regional Medical program. "After you're in practice awhile, everything is just kind of the same. This puts a little excitement back into it."

The program, which has existed in Cape Girardeau and Sikeston for five years, requires students to choose a training location and move there for two years. Students are encouraged to train in rural regions, and the program's goal is to have these students remain in Missouri after they have completed their study and residency.

There are six Missouri training sites, five of which are in rural locations. There are also training sites in Arizona and Michigan.

Junior and senior students gain clinical experience with doctors during two- or four-week rotations. They are evaluated by the doctor after each rotation.

"I was a little uncertain about how it would be not having the residents and working directly with doctors," said Jon Mattson, a junior who has been in the program for two months. "But it hasn't been a problem. The doctors have been very helpful."

Leslie Paugh, a junior, agreed. "The staff and physicians have made the transition from the classroom easy," she said.

"These students decided with their family where they wanted to go," said Debbie Clay, who is the Missouri region education coordinator. Clay said they chose the Cape Girardeau-Sikeston training site over larger sites in Missouri, Arizona and Michigan.

"Cape is a very family-friendly site," said Vickie Damba, a senior whose husband is also enrolled in the program. Damba said the proximity to her hometown of St. Genevieve was one reason she chose the Cape Girardeau-Sikeston site. Other students said lower cost of living and a different medical experience were also positive reasons to come to this site.

Hall said doctors of osteopathic medicine are more likely to practice primary care, and they are more often found in rural America. Cape Girardeau and Sikeston have been a great medical center in the past, he said, but now it is becoming more of a medical teaching community. It has been a good step for the two towns to move towards the teaching aspect, he said.

Hall said the program continues to change as new students and physicians enter the system.

"The program is evolving," he said. "We look for their suggestions to keep it evolving and make it better."