Establishing a Rural General Surgery Residency Program: Identifying Community Stakeholder Perception and Obstacles of a Residency in Rural Appalachia.

Background: Rural healthcare has become more challenging over the past several years with increasingly limited access to surgical care in the rural setting. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has recently introduced the Rural Track Program (RTP) initiative to combat physician shortage in rural areas. We intend to start the first Rural General Surgery Residency program under the RTP designation in rural Appalachia.