INTRODUCTION The purpose of this research was to validate a conceptual model for developing palliative care in rural communities. This model articulates how local rural healthcare providers develop palliative care services according to four sequential phases. The model has roots in concepts of community capacity development, evolves from collaborative, generalist rural practice, and utilizes ex...

Background: In China, rapid urbanization has caused migration from rural to urban areas, and raised the prevalence of hypertension. However, public health insurance is not portable from one place to another, and migration may limit the effectiveness of this non-portable health insurance on healthcare. Our study aims to investigate whether migration limits the effectiveness of health insurance o...

The Rural Inter-professional Program Emergency Retreat (RIPPER) uses interprofessional learning and simulation together as educational strategies to prepare final year nursing, medical and pharmacy students for effective rural health care delivery. The program provides students with the opportunity to learn and work as a team using authentic and relevant situational learning and skill building....

China has undergone great economic and social change since 1978 with far reaching implications for the health care system and ultimately for the health status of the population. The Chinese Medical Reform of the 1980s made cost recovery a primary objective. The urban population is mostly protected by generous government health insurance. A high share government budget is allocated to urban heal...

BACKGROUND The entire population of Mongolia has free access to primary health care, which is fully funded by the government. It is provided by family health centers in urban settings. In rural areas, it is included in outpatient and inpatient services offered by rural soum (district) health centers. However, primary health care utilization differs across population groups. The aim of this stud...

This paper explores two mental health systems in rural North Carolina that provide services to people with severe mental disorders. Recent findings show rural people with mental disorders receive less mental health care than their urban counterparts. This study asks whether rural service systems differ from urban systems in the way that their services are coordinated and structured. A popular c...

INTRODUCTION This article identifies trends in the evolving practice of rural paramedics and describes key characteristics, roles and expected outcomes for a Rural Expanded Scope of Practice (RESP) model. METHODS A multiple case study methodology was employed to examine the evolution of rural paramedic practice. Paramedics, volunteer ambulance officers and other health professionals were inte...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to compare the quality of diabetes care provided to American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) by urban and rural Indian health programs. DESIGN Medical record review data collected by the Indian Health Service as part of the Diabetes Care and Outcomes Audit in 2002. SETTING Seventeen urban Indian health clinics and 225 rural Indian health programs. PA...

The number of rural health care providers is insufficient to meet the nation's needs, since it is difficult to attract and retain providers (Chamberlain, 2011; Ross, 2013). Rural residents experience multiple health disparities including economic constraints, cultural and educational differences, and isolation, which restrict a healthy life (Winters & Lee, 2013). Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are a...