June 3, 2009 Maine gets creative to cure doctor shortage Play video

(NECN: Amy Sinclair) - Megan Hawkes of Old Orchard Beach, Maine plans to go to medical school to become a reconstructive surgeon.

Megan: "in high school I met a girl with a cleft palette she became a good friend and I knew I wanted to do for others what her doctor did because it totally changed her life getting the surgery.

And which medical school she--and these other pre med students from Maine choose--will likely determine where they end up practicing medicine.

Peg: "studies have shown from other med schools that students stay in the area where they train

And doctors say it's hard to get newly trained physicians to move here.

Walter: "it took us eight years to recruit somebody and that's the deal and that's true for other subspecialties.

How bad is the shortage here in Maine. According to the Maine Hospital Assn. There are 272 vacancies, almost half are primary care positions and that doesn't include all the private practice vacancies around the state.

To combat the problem, Maine Medical Center has just forged a partnership with Tufts university School of Medicine creating a special "Maine based curriculum" at Maine Med.

This mini med camp is one way of recruiting Maine- students for that program.

Peg: "Basically we're trying to get Maine’s students high caliber kids and exposure to our program here at Maine Med"

These 10 pre med students are spending the week meeting doctors, shadowing staff

Peg: "We're just hoping students these student get excited about being here want to work in this community."

And Megan, likes what she's seen.

Megan: "Tufts is my number one choice and this week has made me realize I can be on the cutting edge of medicine here in Maine."

Politicians talk a lot about the brain drain from Maine.. It took a bunch of doctors to figure out an effective way to treat the problem.