BACKGROUND Rurality can contribute to the vulnerability of people with chronic diseases. Qualitative research can identify a wide range of health care access issues faced by patients living in a remote or rural setting. OBJECTIVE To systematically review and synthesize qualitative research on the advantages and disadvantages rural patients with chronic diseases face when accessing both rural ...

The crux of this paper is to examine rural development programme implementation in developing countries with China and India as case studies. The paper examines various strategies adopted by these countries in the implementation of rural development policies and programmes. The study adopts desk research as its methodological orientation. The result of the analysis reveals that the Chinese and ...

This paper examines what we can learn from existing studies, or could learn from existing data, about the implications of banking consolidation for the financing of economic activity in rural areas. The evidence indicates that large organizations will expand their offices in rural areas. The role of relatively small banks headquartered in rural areas as providers of banking services in their co...

Rural adolescents are at risk for early initiation and problematic substance use, but to date few studies have examined the rural context of substance use. To better understand substance offers in the rural context, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 118, 12-19 year old adolescents (M = 13.68, SD = 1.37) from Appalachian, rural school districts in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Interviews e...

Until 2012, most of China’s population lived in rural areas with markedly different patterns of household energy consumption from those in Chinese cities. The studies so far done on residential energy use in rural Chinese households have been limited to questionnaire surveys and panel data analyses. Hardly any studies on energy demand in rural areas have considered both the climatic and economi...

The US Congress established the designation of Critical Access Hospitals in 1997, recognising rural hospitals as vital links to health for rural and underserved populations. The intent of the reimbursement system is to improve financial performance, thereby reducing hospital closures. Informatics applications are thought to be tools that can enable the sustainability of such facilities. The aim...

BACKGROUND Due to large geographical distances, the telephone is central to enabling rural Australian communities to access care from their local health service. While there is a history of rural nurses providing care via the telephone, it has been a highly controversial practice that is not routinely documented and little is known about how the practice is governed. The lack of knowledge regar...

There has been a growing interest in interhospital patient transfers. However, much of this research has focussed on the criteria for transferring patients; very little research is available about the transfer process itself. The purpose of this preliminary study was to describe the process and support technology used to transfer neonatal intensive care patients from metropolitan and rural hosp...

BACKGROUND Access to rural health services is compromised in many countries including Australia due to workforce shortages. The issues that consequently impact on equity of access and sustainability of rural and remote health services are complex. DISCUSSION The purpose of this paper is to describe a number of approaches from the literature that could form the basis of a more integrated appro...