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Growing up in rural central Tennessee, Thomas Atkins, MD, felt firsthand the need to improve access to healthcare outside of cities and metropolitan areas.
“People in my community have to decide whether to quit their jobs and drive to Nashville to take care of something, or just deal with illness and not lose their paychecks,” he said. said.
A 2022 graduate of UTHSC, Dr. Atkins is the first regional track resident at Nashville’s School of Medicine, a family medicine program. The pilot program is a state-funded effort to eliminate the rural doctor shortage that highlights his UTHSC’s dedication to improving health for all throughout Tennessee.
Based in McMinnville’s Ascension Saint Thomas River Park and Murfreesboro’s Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford, the three-year residency will teach Dr. Atkins not only how to practice medicine in a hospital setting, but also how to manage issues specific to rural communities. also train , patients are usually underserved.
“As a rural healthcare provider, you have to know a lot about a lot of things,” Dr. Atkins said. “From 50 miles he may only have one doctor within 100 miles. So you have to be prepared for anything that comes through the door and you have to be confident in a lot of things. .”
Dr. Atkins wanted to study medicine because quality medical care was not available in rural areas. When he left his hometown Pleasant View he always considered returning to the rural community, if not where he grew up. He completed his bachelor’s degree at Vanderbilt University (about 30 miles from Pleasant View) and also wanted to stay in Tennessee for medical school.
“I feel a real connection with the state, and after interviewing all the medical schools, I felt the deepest connection with UTHSC. “It seemed like they would cooperate with us,” Dr. Atkins said. “Then, when I got there, I really liked the inclusive environment and the opportunities the school offered. The students were hardworking and willing to help others. We all felt like we were on the same team. rice field.”
When Craig Glass, MD, Associate Director of the Family Medicine Program, contacted him about a new rural track residency, Dr. Atkins immediately joined. After graduating, he, his wife, and his young daughter moved to Middle Tennessee, not far from his hometown and family.
Over the next few years, Dr. Atkins will see that economic factors, educational deficiencies, geographic isolation, and other factors will expose rural communities to the disparities they face in accessing quality health care. Become. One of the problems Dr. Atkins is concerned with is the lack of opportunities for screening for preventable diseases.
“When there are only a handful of health care providers in a community, people have to choose between receiving a paycheck and seeing a health care provider. We may miss screening for preventable things, such as cancer screenings, and the incidence of them is higher in rural and underserved populations,” Dr. Atkins said. “People in these underserved communities often have less access to medicines and replenishment because there are not enough health care providers in the area. I see a lot of diabetes and high blood pressure and what comes with it.”
According to Dr. Atkins, it takes a certain kind of person to want to practice medicine in rural communities, which is a big reason for the shortage of rural doctors. He said many doctors don’t want to leave the comforts of big cities. It’s a challenge that I look forward to.
After completing his residency, Dr. Atkins plans to open a practice in rural Tennessee. In addition to treating underserved patients, he also hopes to be involved in health policy and help shape the way governments and lawmakers handle health care issues. “I want to do everything I can to ease the burden of the doctor shortage in Tennessee outside of the metropolitan area,” he said.
Dr. Atkins said he wanted to assure people in rural communities that the landscape was changing until he was part of the solution to the problem, and that more doctors were receiving these adequate services. He added that he is excited to bring health care to people who are not. I am hoping for
“From my point of view, rural health care is great. You can do a lot for a lot of people. I think it will bring a lot of fulfillment,” he said.
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