When in ROME

Students Learn by Doing

At Jamestown where he is studying and training for seven months in the Rural Opportunities in Medical Education (ROME) program, third-year medical student Justin Reisenauer says he has "been treated like a colleague" and has found tremendous enthusiasm for teaching by physicians and other health professionals who have made him feel very welcome.

"Everyone here wants to teach you in their area of expertise," he exudes.  "They are all willing and excited to teach - from the nurses to the radiology techs and respiratory techs to laboratory staff to physicians in surgery and radiology, and many more health care team members. 

"Everyone goes out of their way to make a teaching point, when they can."

The greatest advantage for students in ROME, Reisenauer says, is the opportunity to witness the continuum of care.  For example, he was part of an expectant mother's office visit to her physician, later helped to deliver her child and, sometime later, conducted a well-baby exam on the infant.

In the traditional curriculum, there would be three different students seeing that patient on those occasions, he says.                

Describing himself as "an active learner," he says he "is able to formulate a better understanding when allowed hands-on training. There is no competition for hands-on training in the ROME program - no other residents or students actively seeking guidance from the preceptor."  There's just the one-on-one, physician-to-student training.   

"I enjoy working closely alongside the physicians in the diagnosis, treatment and management of each patient," he says.  "It is valuable to gain experience in dermatology, radiology, emergency medicine, anesthesiology and other specialties. 

"To have these exposures as well as participate with the specialist are invaluable."   

According to David Muhs, M.D. '85, clinical associate professor of family and community medicine, who directs the program in Jamestown, the strength of the ROME experience "is the fact that students get a wide variety of exposure to a lot of different (aspects of medicine) over a period of time, and it is more clinically-based," rather than hospital-based, which is how medicine is practiced today.

"They can follow a patient through a process," Muhs says, "not just stick to" one specific specialty.   

Reisenauer cites the "high quality of education and training in Jamestown," noting that the hands-on training is "extremely beneficial and allows you to strengthen the weaker aspects of your knowledge base."   Along with Muhs, Scott Rowe, M.D. (Family Medicine '85), Ryan Holzwarth, M.D. '02, Philip Jystad, M.D. (Family Medicine Residency '91), Steven Maier, M.D. '79, and Raymundo Tan, M.D., "have all been extremely helpful with their exceptional" teaching skills.                                        

According to Joshua Ranum, a ROME student in Hettinger, "We are treated as equals by the staff and patients, and not second-class labor. The doctors treat us (and expect us to act) like interns... 

"We're not limited by the rotation we're on, and the staff is very good about grabbing us" if a patient with a new problem walks through the door. 

"The teaching is great," he says, "everyone is willing to teach and let us learn by doing.  All of the physicians have been excellent teachers, and we've learned a great deal from them all."

"Another great advantage of ROME is the ability to become an active part of the community.  Already this year, I've participated in the local band, officiated football games, helped out at church, and even found time to hunt pheasants."   

Ranum is "headed toward a career in family medicine," he says.  "I definitely want to practice in a rural area where you can have a much broader practice.  I was set on practicing in a smaller community even before ROME, but the program has definitely made me realize that rural medicine is a great fit for me."

Mandy Sorlie, a fourth-year medical student who plans to practice family medicine in rural North Dakota, says, "I thought that ROME would prepare me for my future practice better than a traditional curriculum."

As a senior who will graduate in May, she says, "I value the continuity of care that I was able to provide during my seven months in the ROME program. 

"Continuity of care is the basis of family medicine in my opinion, and it is what draws me to this specialty.  I truly enjoyed the relationships I built with my patients during ROME." 

She took the ROME program in Jamestown where, she says, "everyone was great to me, really taking time to teach me and make me feel welcome.                      

"My ROME experience reinforced that family medicine is the field for me and opened my eyes to a possible practice site.”

-Pamela D. Knudson

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