The Professional Disciplines Comprising the
Minnesota Rural Health School

Dr. Byron Crouse

Director, Minnesota Rural Health School

Welcome to an introduction to the different professions comprising the Minnesota Rural Health School. We will be highlighting the ways the MRHS professions can best complement one another in addressing the health care needs of rural communities. We will discuss both the commonalties and uniqueness of each of the professions.

This module is narrated by Minnesota Rural Health School faculty from all MRHS professions. By doing this, we hope to provide you with informed factual information about each of the MRHS disciplines. We also hope to convey some of the passion that MRHS participants have about each of their own professions, and -- more importantly -- about how they can most effectively collaborate with other professions in addressing rural health needs.

The MRHS professions we will be discussing are Medicine, Nursing (including Registered Nurses, Public Health Nurses, Clinical Nurse Specialists, and Nurse Practitioners), Pharmacy, Physician Assistant, and Social Work.

Student Activity #1:

Print the Discussion Page and write 1-2 sentences indicating your current understanding of how each discipline contributes to rural health care. This will be a topic of discussion at the next MRHS meeting.

Don Carpenter & Mike Raschick
Minnesota Rural Health School
University of Minnesota Duluth - Department of Social Work