Objective: To find the present state of postgraduate teaching in Family and Community Medicine, (FCM) in rural areas, according to the view of teaching unit (TU) coordinators.
Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study using a mail questionnaire.
Setting: The 75 TUs of FCM in Spain.
Participants: TU coordinators.
Interventions: In January 1996 a questionnaire with 29 questions was sent to the TU coordinators. In May 1996 it was sent again to those who had not replied.
Measurements and main results: 68 (90.66%) of the TUs replied, which covered all the Spanish provinces except four. Out of the TUs who replied, 42 (61.76%) had a rural Health District (RHD) or local practice (LP) in their area, and 37 (54.4%) had some RHD/LP doctor accredited as a tutor. Of the 1,894 tutors in all, 1,675 (88.43%) worked in urban areas and 219 (11.56%) in rural areas. Before 1989 there had been only three RHD/LP tutors.
Conclusions: There are few RHD/LP tutors. Teaching in rural areas should be strengthened, both because of these areas' specific requirements and because they could be the future workplaces of many of our present Residents.