Bringing rural nurses, midwives & rural communities closer together: eliminating the isolation barrier through technology.

We would like to draw your readers’ attention to an innovation information and communications technology project from the Otago region of New Zealand. The School of Nursing and School of Midwifery at Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand saw potential to work with an existing local organisation (OtagoNet) that was using video conferencing for high school educational purposes within the rural Otago region. With the equipment and infrastructures already established as part of the OtagoNet project, an ideal opportunity was provided to pilot educational and professional support among rural nurses and midwives within this region (Fig 1).