LIC Info: RPAP
Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP)
The Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP) is a nine-month, community-based educational experience for University of Minnesota third-year medical students who live and train in rural communities across Minnesota and western Wisconsin. RPAP students experience hands-on learning as they care for patients of all ages.
Locations
40+ sites are available throughout rural MN and western WI.
Video Clips
- Student Program Highlights 2024 (Part 1) Links to an external site.
- Student Program Highlights 2024 (Part 2)
Links to an external site.
Previous Students' Feedback
- RPAP was the best part of all of medical school. You really get to make your own path and make your own experience. The flexibility, willingness of all of the doctors to teach you, and the longitudinal patient experiences are something that you won't get anywhere else.
- RPAP is the best! You get so much more hands-on and one-on-one experiences than you do during traditional lanes. I am much more confident in my skills and knowledge set thanks to RPAP.
- Such an amazing experience, go to the cities if you just want to see conditions, go to RPAP if you actually want to learn how to be a doctor and confidently make your own decisions and learn to do all the skills you need to master residency (entering orders, calling patients, managing in-basket, making your own medical decisions, gaining responsibility.)
Visit the website to listen to alumni talk about their RPAP experiences.
This LIC is focused on outpatient, clinic-based community healthcare. Students will learn about rural medicine, rural community engagement, advocacy, and comprehensive, cost-effective primary care including procedures, inpatient, outpatient, and OB. Students create extended relationships with patients and preceptors while completing the required clerkships.
Unique Projects
- Community Health Assessment project integrates the student into the local culture
- Threaded learning for improved learner retention
- Students accepted to the program may have an opportunity to apply to an optional Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) training program.
Clerkships Completed
- Primary Care: Intro (includes Family Medicine), Intermediate, Acting Internship
- Outpatient Advanced Selective Acting Internship
- Emergency Medicine
- OB/GYN
- Psychiatry
- Pediatrics
- Surgery
- Advanced Surgery and Procedures
- Neurology
Credits Completed
- 36 on site, 16 pre-requisite
Prerequisites
- Sit for USMLE Step 1 exam before the start of your prerequisite courses
- Complete 2-week "bursts" in Ob/Gyn, Neurology, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry
- Complete Internal Medicine (MED 1)
- Complete the above clinical experiences before the start of RPAP
-
- Check out this documentLinks to an external site. that lists the questions you'll find on the application.
- Attached is a CV template 1 (Links to an external site.) & CV template 2 (Links to an external site.) for reference (a CV is required but not necessarily in this format).
- To apply, go to the Home page and click on the "Apply Here" tab near the bottom of the page.
General Email: rpapumn@umn.edu (preferred)
Program Director: Kirby Clark, MD clark130@umn.edu
Associate Director: Ray Christensen, MD rchriste@d.umn.edu
Educational Programs Specialist: Laurel Sweeney, MS lsweeney@umn.edu
Operations Programs Specialist: Veronica Olson verolson@d.umn.edu
Faculty and Communications Coordinator: Avalon George avalong@umn.edu