Willmar Rural Residency Program
Specialize in rural primary care: Help meet the growing need for rural family physicians
Across Minnesota, the need for family medicine physicians in rural communities is greater than ever—and it’s expected to grow even more in the years to come.
To address this gap, the University of Minnesota/CentraCare Willmar Rural Family Medicine Residency Program will start in June 2025. During their first year, residents will begin establishing their continuity clinic one day a week at the CentraCare Lakeland Clinic in Willmar while completing their first-year rotations four days a week in St. Cloud through a partnership with the CentraCare St. Cloud Family Medicine Residency. Graduates will be fully equipped to serve the primary care needs of Greater Minnesota who are experiencing disadvantages due to under-resourced healthcare. Apply in ERAS in September of 2024.
Training will include ambulatory family medicine, maternity care, behavioral health, inpatient medicine, emergency medicine, orthopedics and sports medicine, addiction medicine, geriatrics, and more.
Join us in bridging the gap: Become trained in rural Midwest primary care
The University of Minnesota/CentraCare Willmar Rural Family Medicine Residency Program will emphasize community-oriented training and population health while increasing healthcare access in rural areas.
Apply, benefits and residency resources
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How to apply - NRMP Code 1334120C8
CentraCare - Rice Memorial Hospital
- 100-bed regional support hospital
- Level III Trauma Center
- UMN Dental Training and Access Clinic
- Willmar Cancer Center
- 700 child-births annually
- Inpatient mental health
Learn more about CentraCare - Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.
CentraCare - St. Cloud Hospital
- A 489-bed regional, tertiary care medical center with a community hospital feel
- Magnet designation in recognition of excellence in nursing
- Nationally ranked by U.S. News and World Report and Thomson Reuters
Continuity Clinic: CentraCare - Willmar Lakeland Clinic
CentraCare - Willmar Lakeland Clinic is a 12,768 square foot facility that is in the process of a complete renovation. When complete in the summer of 2025, the clinic will continue its legacy as a complete family practice clinic treating patients from infancy through senior adulthood. We offer preventative screening tests and vaccines, women’s health, OB/GYN, maternal-fetal medicine, breast care, minor surgical procedures (skin biopsies and cyst excisions), ultrasound, integrated behavioral health, and on-site laboratory and radiology services. The Lakeland clinic is located directly across the street from CentraCare Rice Memorial Hospital and accessible by tunnel or above group cross walk. Read about the CentraCare Willmar Lakeland Clinic.
CentraCare Willmar Clinic
Located less than a mile from the CentraCare Lakeland clinic, the Willmar Clinic is home to more than 40 specialty areas. Many of our outpatient rotations will take place at the Willmar Clinic, including Addiction Medicine, Women’s Health, Dermatology, Orthopedics, Neurology, and more.
CentraCare Willmar Surgery Center
Located in the same parking lot as the Willmar Clinic, the CentraCare Willmar Surgery Center has specialties providing services at CentraCare - Willmar Surgery Center include Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Gastroenterology, Hand Surgery, General Surgery, Pain Management, Podiatry, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Otolaryngology, and Urology.
St. Cloud VA Health Care System
Our collaboration with the St. Cloud Veteran Affairs Health Care System (VAHCS) presents unique opportunities for residents to care for US military veterans. Rotations at the St. Cloud VA include general surgery, orthopedic surgery, urology, and urgent care.
The Willmar Lakes Area, in Kandiyohi County, has over 360 lakes, which provides a wide variety of recreational opportunities. There are fun festivals all year round, museums and many sights to see. Enjoy the countryside from atop Mount Tom at Sibley State Park, or bike through the scenery along our 22-mile Glacial Lakes Trail. However you enjoy the outdoors, Kandiyohi County has a park or trail for you. Take your pick from among dozens of city and county parks, many of which are equipped with picnic shelters, swimming beaches and fishing piers. Explore Sibley State Park, one of Minnesota's most popular parks. The Willmar Lakes Area is a four-season playground, with nearly 200 miles of groomed snowmobile trails connecting with Minnesota's state-wide trail network. Cross-country skiing is also popular, with trails for skiers of all skill levels to choose.
Did you know?
The Association of American Medical Colleges document “The Complexities of Physician Supply and Demand: Projections from 2017 to 2032” notes that, as of 2017, an additional 14,100 to 17,600 physicians were needed in nonmetropolitan areas in order to give underserved populations the same access to care as populations facing fewer barriers. Learn more.
Your Training
Rotation sites
Your family medicine continuity clinic experience will be at the CentraCare Willmar Lakeland Clinic.
You will also rotate in the following sites:
- CentraCare Rice Memorial Hospital
- CentraCare St. Cloud Hospital
- CentraCare Ambulatory Clinics in St. Cloud and Willmar
- St. Cloud Ear Nose and Throat
- St. Cloud VA Health System
- Possible elective rotations at our Regional Critical Access Hospitals in Litchfield, Redwood Falls, Montevideo, Benson, or Paynesville
Curriculum
Your experiences will be tailored to prepare you to serve in a rural area, specifically maternity care, emergency medicine, inpatient care, and addiction services including procedures such as POCUS, colonoscopy, stress testing, and other skills needed to deliver care in a rural area.
While a resident in the program, you will complete rotations in the following areas:
- Family medicine inpatient
- Family medicine outpatient
- Critical care
- Pediatrics
- Maternity care
- Women’s health
- Emergency medicine
- Surgery
- Orthopedics and sports medicine
- Infectious disease
- Psychiatry
- Cardiology
- Dermatology
- Geriatrics
- Community medicine
- Neurology
- Nephrology
- Endoscopy
- ENT
- ICU
- PICU
- Urology
- Research
- Electives
FAQs
What are your aims and goals of your program?
Program Aims
The University of Minnesota / Willmar Rural Family Medicine Residency aims to:
1. Provide comprehensive family medicine training to create graduates who are exceptional physicians and community members.
2. Provide procedural, obstetric, emergency, hospital and outpatient skills focused on rural primary care.
3. Encourage and model lifelong learning through active inquiry and evidence-based medicine.
4. Provide high quality, compassionate care to our diverse community.
5. Emphasize cultural humility and health equity in all parts of our daily activities.
6. Integrate technology and procedural skills into all aspects of the curriculum.
7. Train physicians to function well in a high reliability healthcare organization.
8. Develop new physicians capable of leading and functioning within a team.
Program Goals
Our graduates will:
1. Achieve competence in the practice of comprehensive, longitudinal family medicine across multiple health care settings.
2. Be comfortable in the practice of family medicine, especially in rural communities.
3. Identify the unique needs of future practice and community and accomplish training to meet those needs.
4. Optimize the care of patients through performance improvement activities; continuous, life-long learning; and the appropriate application of medical evidence.
5. Identify the health needs of the community and provide services to address health equity and minimize disparities.
6. Provide collaborative leadership of interprofessional health care teams.
Do you offer a family medicine rotation/clerkship?
Two-week and four-week medical student rotations/clerkships are available for 3rd and 4th year medical students from any medical school (not just the University of Minnesota). However, observerships are not available. We have host families in the area that offer free housing. How to apply for a medical student family medicine rotation/clerkship: Apply here. You will be contacted once your application has been reviewed.
Do you invite international medical graduates to interview?
Yes. All applications meeting our minimum criteria are reviewed.
Are there other residency programs in the hospital?
No. We are an unopposed program.
How big is the residency and how many residents are accepted each year?
We are a 2-2-2 program. As a newly accredited program, we will accept two residents to begin June of 2025 and two residents each year thereafter.
Do you participate in the couples’ match?
Yes, we participate in the couples’ match. We believe that it is important for residents to have active lives outside of the work setting. Our night float and call systems allow for that to occur, even for residents that need to be off work at the same time. Residency is an excellent place to learn how to appropriately balance work-life demands with outstanding mentors and role models.
What is the size of your hospital and what services does it provide?
PGY-1 is based at St. Cloud Hospital, a tertiary medical center. PGY-2 and PGY-3 are based at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar, a rural regional medical center. RMH has 110 beds with maternity care, hospital medicine, inpatient psychiatry, pediatric, ICU and emergency medicine areas. The emergency department treats 15,000 patients annually. The maternity unit delivers over 500 babies annually with C-section and OB/Gyn services. The psychiatry unit is a 12-bed locked unit with integrated local psychiatry staff and support from St. Cloud. The Hospital Medicine service has an average daily census of 18-24.
How much OB do you do?
Rice Memorial Hospital has over 500 deliveries annually with services including C-section provided by family medicine and OB/GYN physicians.
How is call structured?
You can read information about our call schedules here.
How much time is spent in ICU/CCU? Are there attendings in the ICU/CCU?
During your first year, you will have a one-month critical care rotation, run by an intensivist, at St. Cloud hospital. There is an additional two-week rotation in St. Cloud during your third year. Our family medicine inpatient team also cares for our practice's patients in the ICU at Rice Memorial Hospital. All the family medicine faculty have privileges in the ICU.
What procedures do residents do enough of to get privileges?
Care for vaginal childbirths, vacuum-assisted childbirths, limited OB ultrasound, circumcisions, joint injections, long-term contraception insertion, endometrial biopsies, and common skin procedures. Additional training in colposcopy, vasectomy, colonoscopy, and stress testing is available to interested residents.
How many admissions do your interns average on a call night while in medicine?
The residents tend to average 2-3 admissions per night float shift.
Additional information on the Willmar Community
The population of Willmar and the nearby towns of New London & Spicer is approximately 23,343. Our community and region are geographically rural yet very diverse economically, culturally, and linguistically. The Willmar school district is less than 40% white, has more than 20% of students with English as a second language, and at least 10 languages and dialects are spoken in the middle school. This unique combination will immerse residents in opportunities to develop skills that will help them advocate for these populations.
At the CentraCare Willmar program we value work-life balance. We are fortunate to be in Willmar, Minnesota with easy access to amazing outdoor activities. There are 30 recreational lakes in the area where you can enjoy boating, swimming, fishing, water skiing, and kayaking. We also have miles of hiking/walking/biking trials to choose from, so you can always find new places to explore.
If you are interested in challenging yourself with the full breadth of rural family medicine, working towards health equity, being a great team player, and enjoying the unique experience of living in Willmar, Minnesota, consider joining us for your residency!
About the Willmar community
With a population of about 21,282 (as of 2022), Willmar is a city in the county of Kandiyohi about two hours west of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The city is known for its beautiful lakes and parks, abundant fishing, hiking and biking trails, golfing, and community events.
Willmar has an increasingly diverse student population, according to its school district:
- Students are 42 percent Latine/Hispanic, 36 percent white, 15 percent African American/Black, and 4 percent Asian.
- All communications are sent out in four languages.
- 22 percent of all district students are English learners.
Find out more about the population breakdown, median income, and other information.
Willmar Rural Student Opportunities
Rotations
We welcome medical students from U.S. LCME-accredited or COCA-accredited medical schools for two- to four-week rotations.
For more information about medical student opportunities, contact Molly Gardner.
