Gary Conell, M.D., a family practice physician at Midlands Family Medicine in North Platte and a rural residency director for UNMC, recently received the 2010 Marion D. and Theodore H. Koefoot, Jr. M.D., Outstanding Preceptor in Rural Family Medicine Award.
The Koefoot award — named for Theodore H. Koefoot Jr., M.D., a family practice physician in Broken Bow, Neb., for 30 years — recognizes outstanding teaching and mentoring by a UNMC family medicine volunteer community preceptor.
Since the early 1970s, Dr. Conell has hosted between 10 and 12 medical students each year in his clinic. Below, the 1971 College of Medicine graduate reflects on being a preceptor.
Q. Why is it important to you to be a preceptor?
A. I think the most important thing is the experience that I get nurturing new physicians. It keeps me on my toes.
Q. Describe a significant moment/experience with a student that demonstrates to you that you’ve done your job.
A. The most significant moment came in a letter that I got several years ago from a physician I precepted with 10 years before that. She is an obstetrician/gynecologist in Dallas, Texas, and she wanted to thank me because she said I was the first person to make her think like a doctor. I think that is an important phenomenon as far as medical education is concerned.
Q. What do you get out of being a preceptor?
A. The satisfaction of being comfortable with the job that you do and the ability to pass that information on so that someone else can benefit from it.
As the state’s only academic health science center, UNMC is on the leading edge of health care. Breakthroughs are possible because hard-working researchers, educators and clinicians are resolved to work together to fuel discovery. In 2009, UNMC’s extramural research support topped $100 million for the first time, resulting in the creation of 3,600 jobs in Nebraska. UNMC’s academic excellence is shown through its award-winning programs, and its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through its commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading health care centers. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 550 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.
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