Rural Project Examples Addressing Health workforce

Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE)

Updated/reviewed June 2024

Need: Address oral health disparities in Washington's rural communities.
Intervention: The University of Washington School of Dentistry (UWSOD) developed the Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program to increase the number of dentists prepared for the various languages and custom-specific attitudes concerning oral health in addition to the clinical competence required to practice in rural areas.
Results: Since its start in 2009 and as of 2024, nearly 100 dentists have completed the program with over 81% practicing in rural communities.

Updated/reviewed June 2024

Need: Clinicians in rural and underserved areas are often unprepared to provide comprehensive medical-forensic examinations for patients who present for care following a sexual assault.
Intervention: The MDPH TeleSANE Center uses secure telehealth software to connect sexual assault nurse examiners to clinicians and patients in hospitals across Massachusetts — including four in rural counties — offering expert clinical guidance and support before, during, and after examinations.
Results: Clinicians report that the service gives them increased confidence throughout the examination process. To date, the MDPH TeleSANE Center has assisted in the care of over 960 patients.

Added May 2024

Need: To expand healthcare access in rural Alabama communities.
Intervention: The Auburn University Rural Health Initiative is working with communities across Alabama to develop a healthcare model that includes primary care, substance use disorder treatment and mental health treatment via state-of-the-art telehealth technologies, coupled with health and wellness programs and services provided by faculty and students.
Results: The first telehealth care station, located in LaFayette, Alabama, began offering services in April 2023. Within the first year after opening, clinicians in the telehealth station conducted 592 patient consultations and issued 720 prescriptions.

Updated/reviewed April 2024

Need: To connect patients to resources in order to reduce use of emergency services, emergency department visits, and hospital readmissions.
Intervention: Patients receive support (by in-person visit, phone call, or telehealth visit) from a paramedic, community health nurse, peer recovery specialist, and pharmacist.
Results: Between July 2016 and March 2024, the program made 1,098 patient contacts and continued to see a reduction in emergency department and inpatient visits and costs.

Updated/reviewed April 2024

Need: Strategies to recruit and retain providers to practice in rural settings.
Intervention: A traveling one-day workshop was designed to share ideas and firsthand accounts on successful strategies on how to create "Safe Sites" for new recruits.
Results: So far, workshops have trained over 250 hospital administrators, board members, and rural hospital recruiters.

Updated/reviewed February 2024

Need: To reduce farm injuries and improve EMS and fire/rescue's response to these injuries in rural Louisiana and Mississippi.
Intervention: AGRIMEDIC is a two-day training for first responders.
Results: 810 first responders have received training.

Added February 2024

Need: To provide a convenient and affordable lodging option for patients who have traveled from a distance to receive medical treatment in Bozeman, Montana.
Intervention: An RV parking program that lets anyone who is actively seeking care at Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical Center stay in the hospital parking lot.
Results: Throughout the summer of 2023, at least one patient was using an RV parking space at all times.

Updated/reviewed January 2024

Need: Hawai'i is experiencing a severe shortage of family medicine physicians.
Intervention: The Hawai'i Island Family Medicine Residency (HIFMR) program uses an interprofessional team-based approach so residents learn how to care for many types of patients in different healthcare settings.
Results: Since 2017, HIFMR has graduated a class of 3 to 6 Board-certified family medicine physicians annually. Most graduates have remained in the state to practice medicine; those who have left have entered fellowship programs and plan to return to Hawai'i Island to practice.

Added January 2024

Need: To create rural clinical placement and postgraduate fellowship opportunities for Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students and recent Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) graduates in Washington.
Intervention: The Rural Nursing Health Initiative (RNHI), a program out of the University of Washington School of Nursing that created clinical placement opportunities for DNP students and a postgraduate fellowship program for ARNP graduates.
Results: Rural clinical stipends have been awarded to 80 DNP students, and 12 ARNPs completed rural fellowships between 2021 and 2023.

Updated/reviewed January 2024

Need: Dual platform to teach both plain language use and health literacy principles to health professions students and disseminate health information to rural populations.
Intervention: Writing project using community-specific public health data in order to write a plain language health education article suitable for publication in a rural newspaper.
Results: Since program start in 2017, over 60 students have successfully published their plain language health education articles in 17 rural newspapers in 3 states.