The Summer Training Option in Rural Medicine (STORM) is an elective rotation for medical students, sponsored by ORME, the Departments of Family Medicine on the Kansas City and Wichita campuses and other partners. The program is offered in the summer between the first and second years of medical school and is open to medical students from all three campuses.

Students learn about medicine, the people they work with, how to practice with limited resources and themselves. The program involves active clinical training as well as practice-based research in rural primary care settings across the state of Kansas.

This program provides a unique learning opportunity for students to advance clinical skills and to begin to understand the complexity of clinical practice. It also offers students a chance to understand the rewards of such practice and the fulfillment a physician receives from providing direct service to patients and families in the community setting.

Prior studies and analyses indicate that students who participate in this program are more likely to pursue residencies in primary care and ultimately become part of the rural primary care workforce in the State of Kansas.

The Summer Training Option in Rural Medicine is funded by the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, J.H. Baker Trust, Sutton Family Fund, Kansas Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, and the KU School of Medicine.