Rural and remote care

Abstract

The challenges of providing quality respiratory care to persons living in rural or remote communities can be daunting. These populations are often vulnerable in terms of both health status and access to care, highlighting the need for innovation in service delivery. The rapidly expanding options available using telehealthcare technologies have the capacity to allow patients in rural and remote communities to connect with providers at distant sites and to facilitate the provision of diagnostic, monitoring, and therapeutic services. Successful implementation of telehealthcare programs in rural and remote settings is, however, contingent upon accounting for key technical, organizational, social, and legal considerations at the individual, community, and system levels. This review article discusses five types of telehealthcare delivery that can facilitate respiratory care for residents of rural or remote communities: remote monitoring (including wearable and ambient systems; remote consultations (between providers and between patients and providers), remote pulmonary rehabilitation, telepharmacy, and remote sleep monitoring. Current and future challenges related to telehealthcare are discussed.

Telepharmacy: a pharmacist’s perspective on the clinical benefits and challenges

“…Routine access to prescription medication and access to pharmacists are recognized as fundamental aspects to the delivery of patient-centered healthcare in remote and rural communities. 2 Pharmacist can provide high-level pharmaceutical care services in remote areas that have lost or are losing access to healthcare services.…”

“…However, a shortage of healthcare services and trained healthcare professionals, especially in the rural and regional areas, often hinders appropriate treatment and care for patients. 1 , 2 …”

User Profiles of Healthcare Professionals in a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Care Pathway

“…Video consultations are a powerful tool within the telehealth package, and unilaterally desired by our participants. Telehealth enables patient empowerment by allowing patients who are more remotely located or face mental and physical challenges, to reach health services they might otherwise be deprived of [10]. Video consultations to aid in inhaler techniques have been proven to provide a high level of patient satisfaction and improved sustainability over time, especially in more remote areas [22].…”

Medical assistance in dying: A political issue for nurses and nursing in Canada

“…While Bill C-14 provides the legal framework to guide MAiD, it does not specify requirements for the ways that provinces and territories are to practically implement the assessment and provision of MAiD (with the exception of monitoring and reporting requirements for physicians, nurse practitioners and pharmacists that are out in federal regulations). For example, telemedicine has developed into a vital mode of health service delivery within many rural Canadian communities, where access to healthcare services is more limited and chronic health human resource challenges restrict the ability to provide comprehensive health care (Goodridge & Marciniuk, 2016;Jong, Mendez, & Jong, 2019). Bill C-14 is silent on the use of telemedicine in the context of MAiD; this has left open the door for its use and some jurisdictions have incorporated it into their MAiD policies and procedures (Schiller, 2017).…”