Rural and Remote Nurses

This article discusses the advantages and challenges faced by rural and remote nurses in providing healthcare services. It explores the benefits of workplace support, such as transportation and hardship allowances, as well as the challenges of lacking evidence-based practice and limited resources. Additionally, it examines the advantages and challenges of a strong and committed community in rural areas. The article concludes with a reflective model for addressing these issues and the importance of further training and experience in rural nursing.

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Running head: RURAL AND REMOTE NURSES
Rural and Remote Nurses
Name
Institution

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Introduction
Rural and remote nurses are the nurses who get opportunities to serve the public in areas
which are not urban, but those which are rural and which have poor conditions. Though these
nurses face some challenges in rural and remote areas, they also enjoy some benefits. A nurse is
required to be registered in order to offer services to patients. It is significant that nurses meet
certain requirements which would enable them to be registered and hence be employed in rural
and remote areas (Bradford, Caffery and Smith, 2016). This is because working in such areas is
not easy and, therefore, it requires great qualities in order to serve the community effectively
(Summers, 2015). This piece of work aims at discussing advantages and challenges which rural
and remote nurses face from workplace support as well as a strong and committed community.
Part A
Advantages of Workplace Support
Rural and remote nurses enjoy several advantages from the support that they get in the
workplace. They enjoy several services and facilities offered by the managers of the health
centers as well as their employers such as free transportation and hardship allowances. Rural and
remote nurses have to travel or walk for long distances in order to reach their workplaces. This is
due to the transportation systems which are also not well put (Moran et al, 2014). They also walk
for long distances to access professional training. Therefore, in order to avoid these problems,
they are provided with a transportation means which enables them to access the developmental
professional training and the health care centers. (Rohatinsky and Jahner, 2016). This makes sure
that the public needs are addressed. Hardship allowances are also offered in the rural and remote
areas because their conditions are not friendly; they are too mountainous and the environment is

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challenging, in general. Therefore, they are given an extra payment which enables them to
survive in this area by being able to afford the various costs which they incur in their work
(Goodridge and Marciniuk, 2016).
Additionally, the support which the rural and urban nurses gain from colleagues in the
workplace fosters their personal experiences and their professional efficiency. Rural and remote
nurses are able to be given directions by the doctors and managers who have been in such areas
for some years on how to carry out certain professional activities (Onnis and Pryce, 2016). They
are accounted for by being assigned a colleague who would help him or her experience some of
the basic knowledge about the environment as well as about various medical procedures.
Through this, they are helped to apply the knowledge and skills which already have to the real-
life situations in nursing. They are also shown various ways in which they can carry out certain
activities. This improves their knowledge and hence their efficiency in the provision of services
to the community (Morell, Kiem, Millsteed and Pollice, 2014). Precisely, they are able to gain
knowledge and skills through the guidance they are given, hence boosting their experiences in
the rural and remote areas. Their services to the public are, therefore, at a higher level since they
gain more knowledge and skills development on these areas.
Challenges of Workplace Support
Despite the benefits which rural and remote nurses gain from these areas, there are also
challenges which are associated with the support which such nurse experiences. One of them is
that rural and remote nurses lack evidence which they can base their practice on (Roden et al,
2015). Though they are given support by other professionals, they face the challenge of acquiring
technological resources which are required for them to effectively carry out a study. This is
because nurses require a lot of resources which they are supposed to use in order to gather a

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variety of data from the community. Additionally, the small population size of the community
makes the rural and remote nurses to experience difficulties since the population is much
distributed (Wakerman et al, 2017). This means that spreading the sample population over a
wider area targeting a higher population would be expensive and would require more resources
which the health centers cannot afford. (Barrett, Terry, Le and Hoang, 2016) Comparing to their
counterparts in suburban as well as in urban areas, they are unable to assume that all the
resources are available. This is because, in urban and suburban areas, there are many research
groups as well as resources which they can benefit from. However, in rural areas, nurses are not
able to access services from these research groups (Sutton et al, 2016). Additionally, the
suburban and urban areas have higher populations which can help in the collection of data. This
is significant because it is cheaper to collect data from an area where there are no issues of
traveling to long distances looking for the targeted population.
Additionally, the support which the rural and remote nurses are given disadvantage them
because of the high expectations which are demanded from them. It is expected of them to
comply with what they are being directed to do because they are professionals (Hendrickx and
Winters, 2017). However, the conditions in these areas may too adverse in a way that the nurses
are not able to adapt to a point of meeting perfection or effectiveness. For example, the nurses
may be expected to be at the working place at a certain time. Yet they are offered transportation
facilities, the topography and the nature of the environment may disadvantage their vehicles
(Marcin, Shaikh and Steinhorn, 2016). They may not be at a position of being understood by
their managers or colleagues since they are given transportation means. The terrain and the
topography of these rural and remote areas may be too harsh in a way that the vehicles bring
about problems at a faster rate (Rohatinsky and Jahner, 2016). For instance, when a vehicle is

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unable to go past a certain road, the rural and remote nurses may be unable to reach the
workplace early. Since the management has given them cars, they are not expected to arrive late.
Therefore, in this case, arriving late will be an issue to the nurses.
Advantages of a Strong and Committed Community
A community which is strong and connected is an advantage to a rural and remote nurse
in that it helps her to develop a closeness to it and hence be able to learn several of their aspects
such as their culture and other aspects which concern them (Summers, 2015). A strong
community is able to work closely with the nurse even in issues which are not professional. This
enables the nurses to have a closer relationship which contributes greatly to the practices which
the nurses of nurses (Fowler, Twigg, Jacob and Nattabi, 2018).
In addition, a strong and committed community enables rural and remote nurses to
develop more skills and knowledge. This is because the population in which they interact with
enable them to enhance their skills as well as their knowledge, hence making their
professionalism greater every day (Onnis and Pryce, 2016). For example, when the community
can be able to provide some of the resources for them can make the different resources required
in nursing better.
Challenges of a Strong and Committed Community
A strong and committed community poses some challenges to the nurse. This is because
the nurse may be the only one who is available in such a rural and remote area for the treatment
of patients (Nowrouzi et al, 2015). The whole community, therefore, relies so much on the nurse.
This means that a large population relies on the nurse hence making the nurse to overwork. The
nurse who is expected to provide services to the whole community may lack enough time to

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attend to everyone. Additionally, these rural and remote nurses may lack time to relax due to the
demand which is imposed on them by the community (Wakerman et al, 2017). The community
may call the nurse anytime when an emergency occurs. Since this overtime is not paid for, the
nurses are unable to have peace due to the pressure they get. The nurses can even be called in the
middle of the night to attend to a patient, hence interfering with their rest. This is a challenge and
can even make rural and remote nurses resign from their jobs.
Rural and remote nurses are expected to deliver high-quality services due to the trust that
the community puts on them. This comes as a result of the closeness that the nurses have with
the members of the community (Wakerman et al, 2017). It is obvious that the nurses have some
people who are closer to them than others. Due to this closeness, the closest people tend to
demand priority in the services provided by the nurse. This puts the nurses in an ethical dilemma
on whether to allow such unfairness or not. The other patients may have waited for long, but
having a person going ahead of them would be an injustice.
Part B
The reflective model developed suggests that there are three steps when addressing a
certain issue. These include what, so what, and now what (Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper, 2001).
These questions can be effective in addressing the issues that nursing in rural and remote areas
face.
What?
In my nursing practice, I was able to get an opportunity to serve in a rural and remote
setting. There was a problem in dealing with patients since most of them were not able to explain
how they felt. Additionally, I was unable to recognize a patient who was in a deteriorating

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situation. I was also unable to carry out a comprehensive medical history, clinical assessment as
well as making a proper decision. I tried to liaise with my fellow nurses in order to have these
activities done or be assisted whenever I was stuck. Through these actions, I was trying to serve
the patients and have their condition dealt with in a perfect way and hence better their health.
The colleagues in the health centers responded positively since they gave me the assistance and
directions which were necessary. The experience was challenging to me since I found it hard to
keep on inquiring several things from the colleague nurses.
So What?
As I was dealing with the patients, I was able to understand that there are several skills
which a rural and remote nurse should have (Frohmader, Lin, & Chaboyer, 2016). I also noted
that nurses should have knowledge on their own without relying on other people’s ideas and
practices (Golsäter, Henricson, Enskär, & Knutsson, 2016). My actions in a rural and remote
nursing setting were all based on the knowledge and practices of other nurses and the few skills
which I had in mind. This situation, as Patterson, et al (2017) says, could be solved through
undergoing further studies and making sure that I gain significant knowledge and skills which
are necessary for professionally dealing with patients. Through the experience which I gained in
my nursing practice, I was able to acquire more knowledge and skills and I understood different
ways in which patients are able to be dealt with such as carrying out a comprehensive medical
history in order to identify the current problem of the patient. There are broader issues which
arose from this experience which involved ethics. Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper (2001) asked of
the broader issues which emerge from this issue. The ethics were concerned with the
consequences which an incompetent nurse may face when he or she complicates the condition of
a patient due to lack of sufficient knowledge and skills.

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Now What?
For me to deal with patients on my own without having to do consultations every now
and then, I need to undergo thorough training in order to gain more knowledge and skills. This
will enable me to carry out a clinical assessment and make decisions appropriately, take
comprehensive history on the health of patients, recognize and respond to a patient whose
condition is deteriorating, and develop good communication in order to have a good clinical
handover. After gaining this learning, I will need to gain more experience in a rural and remote
setting in order to put the theoretical part in practice. I will also need to consider ethics while
dealing with patients as well as fellow nurses in the rural and remote setting.

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