Volume sixteen, Issue 1

The Mais Médicos program aims to alleviate the shortage of doctors in priority regions and to diminish regional inequalities in health. This report describes the program's implementation and the allocation of doctors to target areas.

How do GPs estimate the usefulness of POC tests and does their use differ between rural and urban areas? This study aimed to expand the knowledge base around POC tests and how they are used by GPs.

Can decentralised medical training assist recruitment to underserved regions? This paper describes the different outcomes of strategies used at JCU to bolster recruitment and retention of medical graduates.

There is a long way to go to remove the barriers that rural women experience in accessing reproductive care, including the pervasiveness of abortion stigma. Services closer to home may help reduce the inequities in access to health care experienced by these women.

There is a positive correlation between diabetes knowledge and self-efficacy. Future diabetes educational interventions should place a greater emphasis on increasing knowledge among rural women, emphasizing the causes of diabetes, complications and treatment procedures.

How did a new radiotherapy clinic influence the overall utilisation of health services for prostate and breast cancer patients over a 3-year period? Less travel distance and time to treatment suggest improved access to services and patient care.

What does the extent of Chlamydia testing across the Scottish Highlands reveal about access to sexual health care in remote and rural settings? The results of this study support the case for customising sexual health services to the most rural areas.

Does mentorship make a difference in the transition of nurses to rural healthcare environments? Read this article to find out about the facilitators and barriers to mentorships

How can we expand the provision of core high-quality PHC services to the many small and diverse non-metropolitan communities that currently lack them? This study investigates the transition of a single-community integrated model of PHC service delivery to a rurally 'networked' model of PHC delivering PHC to multiple communities.

This scoping review focuses on community-based peer support initiatives for rural adults with chronic conditions. The articles that were reviewed provide pertinent information about such programs that can be adopted in other rural areas.

If rural community postings can influence students to practise in these areas after graduation, it is important that students enjoy their experience, yet only a quarter of these students are satisfied with their rural posting. This study of final year medical students in Nigeria seeks to find out why this is so.

A structured postgraduate training program was established to address students' intentions to work in a rural area. Although nearly half claimed that the rural day changed their attitudes positively, it had little effect on the participants' work intentions.

A lack of support structures in rural and remote Australia limits the ability of health services to develop research skills in their staff and to conduct research within their organisations. Partnering with primary health care organisations creates the potential for ongoing research activity.

Disability and long-term dependence are frequent outcomes of this rare bacterial infection, with life-long implications for children with this condition. This case report highlights the challenges for rehabilitation and safe discharge to a remote community with limited support services.

Recruitment and retention of health personnel in rural areas is an ongoing issue. This article focuses on spousal perspectives and their impact on whether or not physicians stay in rural communities.

What are the challenges facing health professionals within the public sector in rural South Africa? This article explores the tension between top-down policy-making and bottom-up pressure, finding that street-level bureaucracy acts as an important terrain for improving the implementation of services and therefore advocacy and health system improvement.

This innovative model emphasizes optimal utilization of scarce healthcare resources in rural areas. It eliminates the need for unnecessary travel and keeps costs low for medical facilities and patients alike.

Barriers to sexual decision-making in a rural town is the focus of this article. The authors provide examples of supportive factors for adolescents and for institutions such as schools.

There is little information about the availability of the dental workforce in Canada. This article employed membership directory with geographic coordinates to determine the location of this workforce. The authors concluded that urban areas have a higher concentration of the dental workforce showing again the limited access to health care providers by rural residents.

To ensure the health of Scotland's substantial rural population, NHS Scotland established a Fellowship for graduate GPs to pursue their education in rural medicine. Given the level of funding support, it is important that its influence on recruitment and retention is understood. This study suggests that approximately three-quarters of graduates are retained in important roles in rural Scotland.

A lack of kidney specialists in rural and remote areas of Jordan means that patients with kidney diseases have limited access to appropriate health care and disease management. This study assesses the impact of a live, interactive telenephrology service on rural and remote patients with kidney diseases in terms of access to health care, proper diagnoses, establishment of treatment plans and subsequent improvements in quality of life.

Technology can be used in many ways to benefit rural residents. This article discusses an E-consult process used to improve bone health; comparisons between rural and urban clients is highlighted.