Third-year medical students usually don't have much time for a visit home.

But a home visit is just what is prescribed for students at Southern Illinois University.

After two years of book work, medical students go through a rotation of medical specialties, most of which are on campus in Springfield, but this month, several Decatur area students had a chance to work with patients under the direction of local family practice doctors.

Dr. Brooke Ballard at the Mount Zion Family Care Center oversaw the work of Decatur native Paige Tsuda.

Its just exciting to be involved in the direct education of future physicians, Ballard said.

For her, being part of the program is invigorating. The medical students' joy and excitement about learning takes Ballard back to when she was a student. When the SIU alum participated in the program, she worked under Dr. Daniel Smith, the same doctor she now shares an office with.

Thats how I found out I loved family medicine, Ballard said.

SIU's Tracey Smith sets up students with about 172 preceptors, or physician mentors, around the state, many of whom are alumni.

It's a wonderful opportunity for them to give back to try and share what pulled them into family medicine, said Smith, director of medical student education for the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Five of the rotations, or clerkships (pediatrics, internal, surgery, psychiatry and obstetrics) are available on campus through physicians with the SIU school of medicine. However, we know that 99 percent of healthcare occurs outside an academic institution, Smith said.

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Program offers medical students real patient contact