A Brief Note On Health And Illness Have A Different Meaning For People Living

Living on a small farm in Montrose, SD, I have seen the hardships that can go along with living in rural areas. With two parents who commute 30 minutes to work everyday, it was always an almost impossible task to get medical attention for any illness. Experiencing these hardships has helped me gain a great respect for rural clinics, and opened my eyes to the opportunities a rural clinic offers to future medical professionals, such as, myself.

One area where access to care is a problem is in the rural communities. Healthcare professionals including physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses all affect the quality and cost of care (Derksen, & Whelan, 2009). Going forward importance needs to be placed on using recourses more efficiently and effectively; these resources include but are not limited to tests, prescriptions,

Health is dynamic and determined by the determinants of health that have factors that can both benefit and hinder our overall health (Liamputtong, Fanany, & Verrinder, 2012, p. 9). The primary health care (PHC) principles accessibility, inter-sectorial collaboration, appropriate technology, emphasis on health promotion and public participation helps all individuals at different social standings based on income levels and geographical location determined by the social determinants of health to access PHC and make an equitable health care system (McMurray & Clendon, 2011, pp. 36-44; Liamputtong, Fanany, & Verrinder, 2012, pp. 13-14).

Traditionally, it is custom that patients to travel to the provider. Although it is possible to create an establishment for patients to visit providers, Mullin & Stenger (2013), advise patients choose home care in which the provider travels to them. According to Buchan, Couper, Tangcharoensathien, Thepannya, Jaskiewicz, Perfilieva, & Dolea (2013), the World Health Organization provides favorable recommendations to procure health care professionals into the rural environment. These recommendations include providing further education opportunities, improved living conditions, career development programs, incentives such as public recognition, and a safe and supportive work environment. Another essential recommendation is to implement jobs for multiple scopes of practices and varieties of health care workers. It is important that health care providers have the support of a multidisciplinary work staff to implement safe and efficient

While implementing Primary Health Care models, identical to those in metropolitan areas, in a rural setting is not practical, I feel there is an obvious need to improve primary health care in remote areas. This is due to the significant health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, in rural and remote areas

The Australian government realized that there is something different about rural health that requires special actions. This realization was the reason for the development of rural health policies. The aim of the policies is to insure ‘equivalent’ access to good health and health care for people in rural places. The implementation of this policies was highly challenged by different factors including political and community reactions and therefore the outcome of the policy is affected also (Farmer & Currie, 2009) .

Overall poor health and chronic illness affect patients who live in rural areas more than those who live in urban areas. “Healthcare workforce shortages are prevalent with less than 10% of all physicians choosing to practice in rural settings.” ( Darling, McCellan, Samuel, Patel ) Instead, these challenges call for a social perspective with a focus on prevention and a healthy lifestyle. Rural hospitals have disproportionately struggled with empty beds in recent years.

Rural Americans face the struggle of accessing healthcare, both preventative services and also specialty care, here in America. What is the cause most often? Distance. According to a study conducted by Buzza et al (2011), those surveyed believed that distance was perhaps the most important reason for lack of access to healthcare on a variety of the spectrum to include: routine healthcare, emergency care, specialty care, and in some cases diagnostic services. What the study found was that among other things, improved means of getting to said services would in turn, improve access to healthcare services for rural Americans.

Significant health disparities between rural and urban populations have been a major concern in the United States. One prominent factor contributing to the disparities is lack of access to quality care in rural areas which is closely associated with challenges faced by rural health care providers (National Rural Health Association, 2007). Rural hospitals are the key health care provider in rural areas, offering essential health care services to nearly 54 million people (American Hospital Association, 2006). They face a series of challenges such as workforce shortages, rise in health care costs, difficulty in finding access to capital, difficulty in

Rural Americans face an exclusive combination of issues that create disparities in health care that are not found in urban areas. Many complications met by healthcare providers and patients in rural arears are massively different than those located in urban areas. Financial factors, cultural and social variances, educational deficiencies, lack of acknowledgement by delegates and the absolute isolation of living in remote rural areas all combined to hinder rural Americans in their struggle to lead a normal, healthy life. Rural hospitals located in rural areas faces many disadvantages, such as; minimum resources, shortcoming or unprepared professionals, and financial disparities. Although many of these challenges could be solved

Access to health care refers to the individual’s ability to obtain and use needed services (Ellis & Hartley, 2008). Access to health care affects a multitude of people. Uninsured, underinsured, elderly, lower socioeconomic class, minorities, and people that live in remote areas are at the highest risk for lack of access to health care. There are also economical and political roles that complicate access to health care. Access to health care is a multi-faceted concept involving geographic, economics, or sociocultural issues. With my extensive research on access to health care, I hope to provide influences regarding; who is affected by lack of access, geographic, economic, sociocultural access, and

Introduction:The National Rural Health Mission was launched by the Government in 2005 `in the field of health to improved general health conditions and an intervention in the area of maternal health, which will improve the IMR and MMR in the country. It is a holistic and democratic mission based on innovative and comprehensive strategies which will provides funds, create institutions and decentralized health services at the ground level and provides resources for health promotion. In this paper, the

Health care services in public health sectors are organised at three levels, which are primary health care ,secondary health care and tertiary health care (Park 2009). The primary level of health services are providing through village teams, Sub-centres (SCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs). The Community Health Centres (CHCs), Sub-district Hospitals district hospitals and dispensaries make up the secondary level, and the teaching hospitals provided health care in tertiary level (Park 2009). Community health centers present for every 100,000 population which is 30 bedded multi-functional centers consists of 4 specialists, 3 medical officers and other paramedical staffs. Primary health centers available for every 30,000 rural population which is a 6 bedded center consists of 3 medical officers, one physician in every traditional medicine, midwives, nurses, a laboratory technician, a computer/statistician, driver, a male and female health assistant with no physiotherapist (WHO 2010). Sub centres available for every 5000 population at very remote areas (WHO 2010).

* bringing quality medical care to rural areas by establishing a link between doctors and technocrats;

This paper was written to analyze the different factors that health care workers need to consider