• Karla Finnell, Karen Ortiz, Mary Gowin, Whiskey Kelsey, Mary Williams, Ellin Ellis, Olivia Lust, Frances Wen, and Zsolt Nagykaldi.
• Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Hudson College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK.
• Fam Med. 2024 Sep 1; 56 (8): 485491485-491.

Background And ObjectivesBuilding on research highlighting the success of tribal, rural, and underserved clerkships to increase students' intention to practice family medicine in these areas, we explored the perspectives of prospective precepting physicians and administrators to develop an optimal structure to facilitate recruitment of external preceptors.MethodsWe conducted semistructured interviews with family physicians (N=14) and health system administrators (N=14) working in tribal, rural, and underserved areas. Discussions were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded independently by two researchers. Applying rapid assessment qualitative research methods, we used a framework method to identify emergent themes that were applied to improve the recruitment of external preceptors.ResultsPhysicians identified key facilitating factors and barriers to serving as a preceptor, which paralleled those common within the existing literature. However, administrators were motivated to serve as a precepting site to increase the potential of recruiting future physicians. We developed the Premier Medical Education Hub model to align these different but compatible interests with the goal to increase preceptor participation. In this model, each host site dedicates staff and adopts standardized procedures to manage rotations, hosts at least five students annually, provides housing, has procedures to facilitate electronic health record access, and offers student immersion experiences.ConclusionsAs practice ownership shifts from physician-owned to health system ownership, administrators become the gatekeepers for prospective preceptors. Our findings demonstrate that integrating the compatible interests between physicians and administrators allows for the creation of a synergistic model that facilitates preceptor recruitment.

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