Volume six, Issue 4

As mental health becomes more prominent in rural communities, it is important that we learn from each other internationally. This paper presents some of the first preliminary data in this field from Namibia.

Could salarying rural doctors to work in mental health units improve patient care? See what rural doctors in Queensland, Australia, thought of this suggestion.

Evaluation of consumer perspectives is a crucial component of quality improvement in rural health. But are you aware of how different evaluation methods may find different answers to the same question when used in rural communities? This article provides some helpful clues to navigating this important issue.

What changes have occurred over the last 20 years in the demographics and working hours of Australian rural doctors and nurses? This article provides all too clear documentation of very worrying trends.

Most rural health professionals aspire to holistic practice. What does this mean? Is it possible? This article reports on a participatory action research project which explored these questions in the context of a health district in South Africa. The authors identify a number of limitations to holistic practice in a public sector healthcare environment. Many of these are relatively easy to address. However burnout amongst health workers is one of the most significant challenges described.

High school students in a rural, tobacco-growing area of Uganda are apparently more likely to smoke cigarettes than their urban counterparts. This paper examines smoking habits of rural high school students and the possible influences on this. The authors highlight an important problem which has not received sufficient attention in East Africa.

Worldwide, urolithiasis is the third most common urological disease affecting both males and females. This study from rural Thebes, Greece, makes some interesting findings about possible causative factors in a rural population.

What is the benefit of rural training? Is it confidence, competence, comfort, comparison, or a confluence of many areas? The Rockford RMED students evaluate their four month rural experience in their progression to primary care and rural practice.

Procedural skills are an important component of rural medical practice. This article summarises what we currently know about the obstacles to maintaining such skills and how to overcome these.

Some journal articles instruct, others inform, while others motivate. Some community projects fail for lack of imagination. Others fail for lack of integration with the needs of people. This article instructs, informs, motivates, and integrates.

Read this letter for more on irritable bowel syndrome in rural Greece.

Do you find rural clinicians and communities are frustrated by research being "done on them"? This project report describes the development of a series of modules designed to empower and equip Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers to take control of their own research agendas.

Do rural people with cancer have different attitudes from those who live in cities? Are they more fatalistic and independent? This research note points to how we may learn more about this important area.