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Bridging The Gap In Rural Health Communications: A Preliminary Study
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- Author(s) / Creator(s)
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I lived in a rural town in northeastern Alberta for the last five years where access to healthcare has always been challenging and tenuous. Prior to the pandemic, recruiting and retaining quality healthcare professionals in rural areas was already difficult (Matthews & Park, 2007), and while the situation was not ideal, it was not dire. Post-pandemic circumstances, however, saw frequent emergency room closures all across Canada, with hospital beds left empty due to the lack of nursing staff (Kitching, 2022). In the past year, rural residents in the area I live in, Cold Lake, have taken to social media to find doctor availability and emergency room wait times. This information enables them to determine if the emergency room is available and make informed decisions regarding undertaking travel to a hospital where they may have the best chances of being seen by a doctor. The situation in healthcare was made worse by COVID-19 as the loss of qualified healthcare personnel is particularly felt in rural areas (Lowrie, 2022). Based on this experience, the research questions guiding this inquiry are: How are residents in rural communities using social media to help them make informed decisions about doctors and the availability of healthcare services? Why are residents in rural areas using social media to help them make informed decisions regarding healthcare?
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- Date created
- 2023-08-10
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Type of Item
- Research Material