The term "rural" suggests many things to many people, such as agricultural landscapes, isolation, small towns, and low population density.However, defining "rural" for health policy and research purposes requires researchers and policy analysts to specify which aspects of rurality are most relevant to the topic at hand and then select an appropriate definition. Rural and urban taxonomies often ...

This manuscript outlines the challenges and opportunities associated with rural mental health practice, and provides descriptive data on the scope of care, area of competence, and clinical training of a group of practitioners providing services in rural central Appalachia. Thematic content analysis reveals ethical challenges encountered, job satisfaction, and the pinnacles and pitfalls of menta...

The incidence of post-operative wound infections in Belize in 1986 and 1987 was studied. Both military practice in the military hospital and civilian practice in the rural hospitals of the local towns were included. Despite previous misgivings and sub-optimal conditions in the rural hospitals an acceptably low incidence was found in both areas of work.

People living in rural and remote communities often have among the greatest health needs but the most limited access to healthcare services, including specialist care. One solution for increasing access to specialist services is visiting-specialist services or specialist outreach clinics - that is, planned, regular visits by specialist physicians from their usual practice location to see patien...

This article summarizes the perspectives gained in the course of evaluating a 4-year demonstration program that supported rural hospital networks as mechanisms for improving rural health care delivery. Findings include: (1) joining a network is a popular, low-cost strategic response for rural hospitals in an uncertain environment; (2) rural hospital network survival is enhanced by the mutual re...

INTRODUCTION Improved HIV outcomes as a result of expanded antiretroviral therapy (ART) access is threatened by increasing rates of loss to follow up (LTFU) among those on ART, largely reported in urban populations. Some reports suggest that LTFU rates are overestimated due to patient movement to other facilities and inadequate medical records. STUDY OBJECTIVE To define the proportion disenga...

One of the most favorable development options in society's programs and policies is tourism development. The most important part of sustainable tourism development is promoting community participation on reliability, norms through members in it: social capital on human resource. In this regard, social capital is one of the most important variables that support community participation in many ac...