Physicians who choose rural practice are called upon to deliver care that they have limited experience with, most notably in emergency situations when they are the most skilled people around.

Particularly in a small community, patients may want to avoid the social stigma of seeking mental health care by receiving it from their primary care physician—who may know them well enough to have some insights an unfamiliar specialist would not.

Personal, social, economic, and environmental factors all contribute to the increased incidence of cardiovascular disease in the United States.

The metaphor of the ED as a safety net works on many levels. It’s visual. It has heroic dimensions. Many physicians and nurses were drawn, and find great purpose, in this ideal. But does it stoke expectations that can’t be met?

Trainees’ expectations and cultural awareness should be managed, and their activities supervised, to create a global health elective that benefits both visiting students and the host country.

Trainees’ expectations and cultural awareness should be managed, and their activities supervised, to create a global health elective that benefits both visiting students and the host country.

By preparing adequately, showing solidarity, and advocating for underserved populations, medical students can make a difference in resource-limited countries.

There are four key elements of health system reform that medical educators must endeavor to implement.

U.S. regulations prohibit the importation of drugs from foreign countries by individuals and groups other than the manufacturer of the drugs.

A major contributor to the lack of medicines in developing countries is an intellectual property regime that allows proprietary drug companies with intellectual property monopolies to charge high prices and maximize profit.