Volume eighteen, Issue 2

This study is one of very few investigating the characteristics of smoking and tobacco exposure exclusively in a rural population in Greece. Both the high prevalence of smoking and the high levels of exposure to tobacco show a population at increased risk for tobacco-related disease. These findings call for immediate action to reduce smoking prevalence, help smokers quit and protect the health of non-smokers.

Aboriginal children living in rural and remote communities in NSW experience high rates of dental caries. This study was a collaboration with local Aboriginal communities to determine the oral health needs of Aboriginal children, the knowledge and attitudes towards oral health of parents/guardians and the perceived barriers and enablers towards oral health promotion for school children. The results of this collaboration will inform a community-owned oral health promotion program.

This qualitative study explores the efficacy of using a High Acuity Response Team model to transport rural patients to urban centers for critical care in Canada. The findings suggest that while this model reduced the need for rural physicians and nurses to accompany patients during transfer, it was associated with other challenges. The authors recommend systems level changes to better integrate the model.

Rural health care has been traditionally provided in New Zealand by medical general practitioners (GPs). However, the number of GPs has been declining, leading to the development of the rural nurse specialist (RNS). The RNS is a registered nurse with advanced nursing skills that enable independent, autonomous practice within rural areas. The health needs of each rural community are specific to that area and the RNS role has been developed according to local healthcare needs. This article provides a description of the RNS role in New Zealand.

Child-care centers with good quality standards can be effective in reducing the risk of diseases being easily spread from person to person. Our program, adapted from a method used by the United Nations Development Program, aimed to increase the capacity of local administrators and heads of child-care centers to improve quality standards.

The high-risk nature of offshore work and inherent occupational hazards necessitate that offshore workers engage in behaviours that promote health and wellbeing. This study identifies key areas relating to the health, quality of life, mental wellbeing and self-care of the offshore workforce that warrant addressing.

Increased publication of clinician-led health research is important for improving patient care and health outcomes. This study determined the impact of a writing for publication program delivered by teleconference on the publication rates and skill acquisition of novice researchers.

There is an urgent need to preserve antibiotics so that they will still work against infections into the future. Hospitals can put in place a program called Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) to help make sure that antibiotics are being used properly. AMS programs can be more difficult to run in a rural hospital. This paper describes the different ways that rural hospitals have set up their AMS programs so that other rural hospitals can learn from their experiences.

General practitioners (GPs) participate in a patient’s cancer care to different extents at different times, from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and end-of-life care. Traditionally, the GP has had a minor role in cancer treatment, but oncological and surgical services frequently delegate limited cancer treatment tasks to GPs, especially in rural areas. This study explored the extent of GP participation in cancer treatment in Norway.

Obesity has become one of the major health risks in childhood, significantly affecting children’s health and physical fitness. Although the marked increase of obesity in urban areas is well established, evidence is limited in remote and isolated areas with adverse socioeconomic features. This study examined the prevalence of obesity and its association with physical performance indices in school-age children on remote and isolated Greek islands.

Many medical faculties are responding to rural workforce needs by extending clinical training from the traditional academic teaching hospital to include rural and remote sites away from the central training institution. Medical schools need to consider how to offer faculty development that might support these clinicians as they take on a teaching role. This new research sought to develop an understanding of how clinicians working at distant resource-constrained and new training sites view their early experiences of clinical teaching.

This article reports on the rare case of an elderly female patient from a rural village with chronic massive pericardial effusion due to subclinical hypothyroidism. Subclinical hypothyroidism rarely shows signs and symptoms and can be underdiagnosed, but should be included in the differential diagnosis of pericardial effusion, especially in a case of unexplained pericardial fluid.

Many primary healthcare staff have a role to play in health promotion practice, but their ability to integrate health promotion into practice is influenced by their previous training and experience. For primary healthcare staff working in rural and remote locations, access to professional development can be limited by what is locally available and prohibitive in terms of cost for travel and accommodation. This study provides insight into how staff at a large north Queensland Aboriginal community controlled health service access skill development and health promotion expertise to support their work.

This study examines the extent to which rurality modifies the likelihood for acute healthcare use among veterans who use both Veterans Affairs (VA) and non-VA healthcare systems. Rurality appears to modify the effect of dual use on rates of ED visits for patients with heart failure. The authors suggest that additional attention to care coordination across healthcare systems is needed.

This clinical case report describes the presentation and management of a person experiencing an ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) in a rural Australian hospital emergency department (ED) setting and discusses the telemetric technology utilised in the management of STEMIs in the rural ED, the diagnostic ability of the modern electrocardiogram and the role of the frontline rural emergency clinician in the utilisation of such technology.

Health professionals performing their social health service (SHS) in rural communities could be at risk of developing depression. This study evaluated the association between place of origin and the presence of depressive symptoms in health professionals performing rural SHS in Ancash, Peru.

Although interprofessional collaboration and effective teamwork are core to optimising rural health outcomes, little is known about the opportunities available for interprofessional education (IPE) in rural clinical learning environments. This integrative literature review identifies, analyses and synthesises the research available about the nature of and potential for IPE provided to undergraduate students undertaking rural placements.

Due to demographic changes, growing demands, technological developments and rising healthcare costs, analysis of resources in rural and urban primary care clinics is crucial. This study examined the urban–suburban differences in the indications for lumbosacral spine radiographs in a public primary healthcare centre in Malta.

This article describes a First Nations specific model for a community-based palliative care program. It demonstrates how local, federal and provincial health care providers and organizations collaborated to build capacity, fund and deliver community-based palliative care in rural Ontario, Canada.

This Clinical Case Report describes low selenium level affecting thyroid function in an elderly man. Although the soil in the mid-western region of Western Australia is known for its richness in various minerals, parts are selenium deficient. Physicians should be aware of trace mineral deficiencies as bedside presentations.

This study explores factors that impact women physicians' professional satisfaction and commitment to rural medicine. Three key influences were identified: professional relationships, practice characteristics and support during times of transition. The authors suggest these findings could be used to improve retention of women physicians in rural practice.

Geographical differences in the prevalence of dental caries and periodontal disease can be attributed to variation in diet, availability of fluoridated water and social and cultural factors, such as access to health services and level of income. Adolescents experience an increased risk for caries, traumatisms and periodontal diseases compared with younger children, and also tend to have poor nutritional habits. This study compared the oral health status of adolescents from rural and urban areas in central Chile.

Community participation is a collaborative process aimed at achieving community-identified outcomes. This article reported factors that facilitated community participation undertaken in the Smart and Deadly initiative, a community-led initiative to develop sexual health promotion resources with young Aboriginal people in regional Victoria, Australia.

This article describes incidence rates and characteristics (gender, age group, severity of injury, vehicle and environment and geographical remoteness) of low-speed vehicle run-over events among children aged 0–14 years residing in Queensland from 1999 to 2009.

This Project Report describes the implementation of an expanded-scope physiotherapy service in a regional hospital emergency department in Australia and discusses the lessons learnt in terms of long-term sustainability of these roles in regional areas.