A curriculum framework for rural medical education

The Australian, Canadian and the United States literature on rural medical curricula was explored and analysed to identify comment elements and themes common. All medical programs are framed within national and institutional policy settings that support rural workforce improvement and broadly acknowledge the “rural pipeline”. Based on review of rural medical programs a common curriculum framework was abstracted. The framework describes three key horizontal themes (people, place and practice) and contexts (different activities and settings) that they experience as they progress through their medical courses in rural settings. This generic framework may also be used for planning rural health curricula in other health professions. Further work is needed to clarify specific rural learning outcomes, the importance of content over context, rural assessment strategies and improved evaluation.