Rural Rotation: One Resident Physician’s Experience
Residents in their second and third years at Lincoln Family Medicine Residency Program (LFMP) have the opportunity to complete rural rotations for three to four weeks in communities throughout Nebraska. Recently, Hunter Allen, MD, a second-year resident, spent time working in Lexington, Nebraska and shared the impact that experience is having on his residency training.
“My rural rotation in Lexington has been one of my most enjoyable and fulfilling months I’ve experienced in residency. And it could not have happened at a better time during the course of my training experience. ”
“During my time at Lexington Regional Health Center, I was considered an attending physician – I was given my own panel of patients to independently see and provide care to in the clinic, and I was trusted to oversee their care and establish my own care plan. Attending physicians present were always available for guidance, mentorship, and assistance. But there was a trust given to me to care for patients completely on my own as I felt comfortable. Being halfway through residency, such experience was an incredible boost of confidence, my first ‘solo flight’ if you will. It allowed me to personally witness just how much I have learned during my training at LFMP and to appreciate that I have been taught well, that I possess the skill set to provide up-to-date, deliberate, intentional medicine for a number of medical conditions and injuries, more so than I could have ever imagined. But in such a setting, it allowed me to further recognize the areas of family medicine to further hone during my latter half of residency, to have the opportunity to gain equal expertise for an even greater number of medical conditions and situations.
My obstetrics experience in Lexington was nothing but rich. During my four weeks there, I delivered 11 babies, including completing a C-section on my very first day (my hospital tour was interrupted by me being immediately escorted to the operating room!). Similar to my clinic experience, the attending physicians entrusted me to oversee the labor and delivery of every patient including triage, management of labor, the delivery, and any laceration repairs that were needed. My confidence in practicing obstetrics indecently must have multiplied tenfold while there.
Lastly, my ration in Lexington confirmed my love for rural family medicine. Not only is the scope of care and services vast and comprehensive, but there is something special about being recognized not merely as a physician, but as a member of the community. Lexington is unique in that the town has a large Hispanic and Somalian population due to the meatpacking plant in the town; and to be honest, I did not know much about Somali culture prior to my experience in Lexington. But like in any small town, I was immediately welcomed and embraced. There was a mutual and reciprocal respect of their culture and mine. Similarly, the staff went above and beyond in making me feel welcomed and valued. Although I worked there for a mere four weeks, the hospitality and generosity of the staff made me feel like I had practiced there for years. After residency, I look forward to caring for an equally generous and compassionate community. I look forward to being a friend and neighbor, and while doing so, being a full-spectrum family physician”
“My time in Lexington was a foreshadow of the glorious future ahead of me and it allowed me to find gratitude in the training Lincoln Family Medicine Residency Program has provided me to make such a vision a reality in a year-and-a-half.”
Dr. Hunter Allen is originally from Dallas, Texas but now calls Nebraska his home. He attended Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska where he received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He continued at Creighton University School of Medicine where he obtained his Doctor of Medicine. Additionally, Dr. Allen received an M.S. in Biomedical Science from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. He plans to practice family medicine in North Platte, Nebraska after his residency.