Volume twenty, Issue 2

Five billion people worldwide do not have access to safe and timely surgical care, the majority of whom live in low- and middle- income countries, including sub-Saharan Africa. This Editorial describes the benefits and challenges of providing essential and emergency surgical services at rural district hospitals. In addition, the importance of buy-in and co-management by specialists from secondary and tertiary hospitals and the role of mobile health technology and monitoring systems are highlighted.

Nurses and midwives make up more than half of the global health workforce. The World Health Organization has designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife to recognize the crucial role played by nurses and midwives in health promotion, disease prevention and treatment. This Editorial highlights the challenges faced by nurses and midwives around the world.

Rural and remote Australia has long been recognised as an area with reduced help seeking for mental health concerns and an increased suicide mortality. This study investigated the differences between intentions and predictors of help seeking between different locations across Australia to better understand the barriers to seeking help for rural residents.

Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is an acute respiratory infection with high clinical and economic burden, especially when hospitalisation is required. The present study assessed the mean direct cost per CAP outpatient and inpatient in Greece.

Maternal and neonatal health is a core focus area in fragile and conflict-affected states and midwives are key actors. This study explores midwives’ experiences, the challenges they face and coping strategies they employ in the challenging and fragile rural areas of the Ituri Region in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Reducing the delay in time to primary percutaneous coronary intervention for acute coronary syndrome patients in the non-urban emergency department (ED) is of critical importance. To reduce ED delay time, this study developed a direct connection between the local ED and the cardiac catheterisation laboratory in the tertiary university hospital.

Peru has experienced a significant internal migration from rural to urban areas in recent years. This study estimates the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Peruvian women of childbearing age and their probability of having these symptoms according to the condition of internal migration.

The increasing burden of kidney disease and type-2 diabetes mellitus is a worldwide problem, especially for remote and Indigenous populations. This article reports on the findings of the Western Desert Kidney Health Project, which determined the prevalence of type-2 diabetes, kidney disease and associated risk factors in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in a remote area of Western Australia.

Research training is conducted within rural health organisations without a clear understanding of the role of research within the structure of the organisation itself, potentially limiting the effectiveness of that training. This study examined the role of research within the organisational structure of a large rural health organisation in Australia.

This paper describes the process of mapping referral pathways to develop a localised resource to enhance the journey to diagnosis, treatment, and support for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in a regional community setting.

Access to specialized services is limited in rural and remote areas. This study explores the effectiveness and feasibility of training parents to provide intensive speech pathology services for children at home. The authors report multiple social and behavioral challenges faced by parents in implementing the program. They caution that parent training may not be an effective option for all families. Parents in rural and remote areas may face unique social circumstances that limit their capacity to deliver an intensive treatment program.

The current novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has effected a significant change in the way industry based and tertiary health professions education (HPE) can occur. This is the first paper in a series that addresses the risks and opportunities in the current transition to online HPE, and provides practical solutions for educators who are now unable to embrace more traditional face-to-face HPE delivery methods and activities.

This second paper in a series addressing online professional and tertiary health professions education (HPE) during the current COVID-19 crisis proposes strategies to ensure the ongoing effectiveness, efficiency and engagement of lectures that are transitioning from face-to-face to online delivery.

Health professions education in tertiary, industrial and other contexts often entails face-to-face small group learning through tutorials. The current novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has reduced face-to-face contact, and this has challenged how health professionals and clinical students can access training, accreditation and development. This third paper in a series addressing online professional and tertiary health professions education during the current COVID-19 crisis outlines practical approaches to pedagogically rich online tutorials.

The allied health workforce is one of the largest in the health industry and plays a critical role in cost-effective, preventative health care but it is poorly accessible in rural areas world-wide. This review describes the extent, range and nature of evidence about this workforce to inform policy and research priorities for increasing access to rural allied health services in Australia.

National and state-based minimum data sets remain inadequate in providing a complete representation of emergency presentations, especially among paediatric asthma presentations. This study investigates if a deficit exists in current emergency paediatric asthma hospital presentation datasets and how this may inform our understanding of childhood asthma in Victoria, Australia.

Under the Bonded Medical Places (BMP) Scheme, the Australian Government provides a place at a medical school and, in exchange, participants agree to work in an area of workforce shortage for a period, particularly in rural and remote areas. This Research Letter identifies Regional Training Hubs as well positioned to play an important role in attracting and retaining doctors in rural areas and proactively supporting bonded doctors as they navigate their career.