Amoah, P. A., Edusei, J., & Amuzu, D. (2018). Social Networks and Health: Understanding the Nuances of Healthcare Access between Urban and Rural Populations. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(973), 1-15. Web.
Within this article, communities and individuals are observed in rural settings in which healthcare is inaccessible or within a distance that is not optimal. Within certain environments, people are able to rely on social networks to increase their chances of receiving better health care. As such, the paper examines how rural and urban citizens interact with and activate social networks for the purpose of advancing their access to healthcare. The research determined that the activation of such social networks was more collected and intimate or broader and distanced in nature. Additionally, urban and rural residents were likely to engage within such networks at different time periods. Factors such as physical proximity, privacy, sense of fairness and trust, socio-cultural barriers in regards to health problems, and other resources, such as finances, influenced the activation of these networks. This paper was chosen due to its analysis of a rather recent phenomenon in the area of solutions for inaccessible health care, as the use of social networking is more likely to become prominent in the future of establishing accessible medical services.
Ashcraft, A. M., Ponte, C. D., Farjo, S., Dotson, S., & Murray, P. J. (2021). The [underutilized] power of independent pharmacies to promote public health in rural communities: A call to action. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. Web.
The following paper begins with establishing an often overlooked but important authority for health care within rural areas, independent community pharmacies. As some of the few facilities that are able to provide medical knowledge and limited care within underserved regions, pharmacies are also able to promote public and individual health when communities are unable to access chain pharmacies and clinics. Examples of this ability can be seen in recent events in states such as West Virginia, which utilized independent pharmacies in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in order to allow access for individuals within rural areas. The study observes ways in which already existing infrastructure within underserved areas is utilized or can be made more efficient in promoting and providing health care. The research observed ways in which independent pharmacies can address other health needs such as pregnancy prevention. The study found that similar elements of timely counseling, provision of medicine, and non-judgment from the vaccination process could be reflected in the contraceptive provision and other health issues. This article was chosen due to its assessment of ways in which existing infrastructure and services can be improved in order to directly improve the state of health care accessibility.
Chinyakata, R., Roman, N. V., & Msiza, F. B. (2021). Stakeholders’ Perspectives on the Barriers to Accessing Health Care Services in Rural Settings: A Human Capabilities Approach. The Open Public Health Journal, 14, 336-344. Web.
The article observes ways in which many global stakeholders are unable to provide resources or health care due to a number of barriers, a primary one being the difficulties posed by rural settings. The study found a number of factors that influence the inability to provide care to certain regions, such as lacking understanding of specific needs, limited facilities and personnel, medicine shortages, distrust between patients and care providers, working hours of facilities, and financial constraints. The combination of some or all of the factors has direct effects on the quality and accessibility of care within underserved rural regions. As such, the study proposes a multifaceted reform and strategy that will address deficits within infrastructure and human resources. Additional actions will have to be implemented alongside the reform to ensure adequate medicine stocks and equitable distributions of both services and resources. The perspective of providers and stakeholders, allowing us to analyze the core issues and their potential solutions.
Hirko, K. A., Kerver, J. M., Ford, S., Szafranski, C., Beckett, J., Kitchen, C., & Wendling, A. L. (2020). Telehealth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for rural health disparities. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 27(11), 1816–1818. Web.
Telehealth programs have an ongoing history of addressing issues posed to healthcare accessibility by health disparities within rural settings. The study observes the ways in which the use of telehealth strategies was able to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and health complications within rural areas. Due to the social-distancing of the pandemic restrictions, telehealth was especially prevalent in their implementation. As such, the research investigates the benefits that were seen not only through access to care and information through telehealth programs but also through other virtual connections. However, the study also notes that those without broadband continued to be affected by the health disparities of rural settings. The study provided policy changes and increased telehealth initiatives to combat cases in which individuals continue to face inaccessibility. The article was selected as it examines the technology that has existed continuously, telehealth, and its relationship with newer communication methods in an effort to combat disparities posed by rural settings.
Smith, M. L., Prohaska, T. R., MacLeod, K. E., Ory, M. G., Eisenstein, A. R., Ragland, D. R., Irmiter, C. I., Towne, S. D., & Satariano, W. A. (2017). Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Needs of Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Rural-Urban Comparison in Delaware, USA. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(174), 1-13. Web.
The following paper focuses on the specific issues regarding transportation for the purpose of access to health care that are prominent in the lives of older adults in rural areas. The major barriers that currently affect these populations include the lack of mass transit and the inherent distances between the rural living spaces and any health-related services or facilities. Frequently, populations in such areas are unable to As such, the study aims at the ways in which non-emergency medical transportation affects associated costs for older adults in both rural and urban areas. The results of the study found that older age and personal accompaniment were more common within rural areas, while wheelchair use was rarer. Additionally, the mean cost of each trip for patients within rural settings was substantially higher than for those in urban settings. Issues such as dialysis were identified, which requires further investigations into prevention methods. This paper was selected as it investigates a specific barrier faced by communities in rural settings in regards to health care access, the costliness, and lack of transportation.