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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare needs and services

2017 Nebraska Registered Dental Hygienist Survey Summary
Reports the results of a 2017 survey of registered dental hygienists (RDHs) and public health registered dental hygienists (PHRDH) in Nebraska. Provides RDHs statistics by age group practice location and number of hours worked per week. Includes statistics on practice locations by rural and urban, patient demographics, practice settings, education, training, and more.
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
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The Road to ZER0: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050
Highlights a report that details potential traffic safety measures necessary to achieve zero roadway deaths by 2050. Discusses the different traffic safety challenges unique to rural communities, as well as successful measures that reduce rural traffic fatalities.
Author(s): Liisa Ecola, Steven W. Popper, Richard Silberglitt, Laura Fraade-Blanar
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organizations: National Safety Council, RAND Corporation
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Zika in Babies in US Territories
Provides an overview of the Zika infection in pregnancy and its impact on babies. Focuses on babies born in American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Marshall Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Identifies what health departments, healthcare providers, and parents can do.
Additional links: Video
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Child Welfare and Substance Use
Discusses a study on the relationship between substance use, specifically opioid misuse, and child welfare caseloads. Explores reports of child abuse and foster care entries along with drug mortality rates and retail opioid sales. Features rural information in the second and third reports.
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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Toward an Initial Conceptual Framework to Assess Community Allostatic Load: Early Themes from Literature Review and Community Analyses on the Role of Cumulative Community Stress
Describes a framework to evaluate community allostatic load, modeled after individual allostatic load, related to stress, trauma, and adverse experiences. Examines factors included in the framework and includes analysis of rural communities to determine effectiveness. Discusses how public health professionals and other community leaders can use the framework to promote health and mitigate stress throughout a community.
Author(s): Anita Chandra, Meagan Cahill, Douglas Yeung, Rachel Ross
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
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Oral Health
Details migrant agricultural workers' oral health status and unmet oral health needs. Discusses risk factors and barriers to care.
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Farmworker Health
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The Opioid Crisis in Rural and Small Town America
Provides data on opioid mortality rates in 2016 and changes in opioid mortality from 1999 through 2016 for metropolitan and nonmetro counties. Also provides metro/nonmetro data on drug overdoses by type of opioid - heroin, prescription opioids, synthetic opioids, and unspecified opioids - from 1999 through 2016. Discusses challenges rural areas face in addressing the opioid crisis.
Author(s): Shannon M. Monnat, Khary K. Rigg
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: Carsey School of Public Policy
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Leading a Faith-Based Charge Against Opioid Abuse: How a Minnesota Rural Health Organization Became a National Leader
Describes prescription drug abuse treatment efforts of CHI St. Gabriel's Health, a multifacility rural health organization in Little Falls, Minnesota.
Author(s): Patrick Rioux
Citation: Health Progress, 99(2), 29-32
Date: 2018
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Models and Strategies to Integrate Palliative Care Principles into Care for People with Serious Illness: Proceedings of a Workshop
Summarizes presentations, discussions, and workshop participant suggestions for improving the quality of, expanding access to, and supporting policies for community-based palliative care. Provides examples of community-based palliative care models, including a model for reaching patients in rural areas.
Additional links: Read Online, Workshop Highlights
Author(s): Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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The Impact of Nurse Practitioner Scope-of-Practice Regulations in Primary Care
Examines the current and projected role of nurse practitioners (NPs) in rural and primary care settings, and discusses how changes in scope-of-practice (SOP) regulations for NPs may help alleviate healthcare access issues caused by a limited supply of physicians.
Author(s): Aziza Arifkhanova
Date: 2018
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
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