Opinions of rural physicians about their practices, community medical needs, and rural medical care

Abstract

In a study in the State of Washington during 1971-73, 41 general practitioners in rural areas were asked their opinions about (a) their present practices, (b) the medical care needs of their communities, and (c) rural medical care in general. The most frequently mentioned enjoyable aspects of their practices were the variety and challange of medical problems confronted, the favorable working conditions of the practices, and the types of communities in which the practices were located. The most frequently mentioned sources of frustration to the physicians were the "excess work, responsibility, demands and expectations by patients and community." The physicians were more reluctant to criticize the care received by the residents of their communities than they were to criticize the care that patients received in other rural areas. Suggestions made by the physicians for improving medical care in rural Washington focused on ways to increase the number of resources used to produce medical care, rather than on structural changes in the way medical care is organized, delivered, and financed.