Rural residents face unique challenges and barriers when it comes to accessing high-quality healthcare. Many rural areas do not have a hospital or medical center nearby, forcing residents to drive hours to the nearest doctor or healthcare clinic. This delays—and in some cases prevents—rural residents from receiving care quickly, efficiently and safely. Due in part to these barriers, rural patients take advantage of preventive care less often than their urban counterparts and face higher health risks, such as cancer, chronic respiratory disease, heart disease, stroke, and unintentional injuries.
Women, specifically mothers, are among those most significantly impacted in these rural communities. In fact, less than half of rural women live within a 30-minute drive to the nearest hospital offering perinatal services. According to the March of Dimes, 36% of U.S. counties are maternity care deserts—meaning there are no hospitals providing obstetric care, no birth centers, no OB/GYNs, and no certified nurse midwives. Of those counties, about 62% are considered rural.
On top of that, maternal and infant mortality rates in the most remote areas of the country are significantly higher than those in large metropolitan areas, and rural hospitals report higher rates of postpartum hemorrhage and blood transfusions during labor and delivery, compared to their urban counterparts. As a woman and a mother, these numbers are deeply troubling to me. But they should be equally concerning to all Americans.
The first step: Expand the healthcare workforce
Addressing healthcare workforce shortages nationwide is the first step to tackling these health disparities. Everyone knows we need more healthcare providers. But the numbers are daunting. If everyone—including the marginalized, rural, and uninsured—had the same access to healthcare as those with fewer barriers, the U.S. would have needed 202,800 additional physicians as of 2021. That’s in addition to the number we need to replace the providers who leave the workforce every day due to burnout and stress. This is no easy feat, but it can be done.
It starts with expanding access to healthcare education and training healthcare professionals at scale. To do this, we need to be creative in how we think about traditional education in this country. To attract a diverse population of students, we need to truly understand the barriers some populations face when pursuing an education. Whether financial, academic, or logistical, we need to find ways to systemically dismantle those barriers and design educational programs that meet students’ real-world needs. This can include simplified admissions processes, online coursework options, enhanced scholarship opportunities, ongoing support programs, and innovative technologies that foster student-faculty engagement and educational success.
We also must ensure that we adequately prepare students—both academically and practically—for career success, supplementing classroom learning with hands-on clinical experience. Partnerships with hospitals and health centers can provide students with educational experiences that mimic the clinical setting and provide a realistic understanding of the skills they will need for their chosen specialty area. These are critical steps to expanding educational opportunities for more students interested in the healthcare profession.
As these graduates go on to serve patients, many of them returning to practice in their own communities, we unleash a robust and much-needed healthcare workforce that serves critical primary care needs and underserved populations across the U.S. When these graduates have received the educational support and the real-world training they need to be successful, they are ready on day one to meet their patients’ unique healthcare needs. This benefits mothers in rural areas—as well as fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and entire communities.
A ZIP code should never serve as a barrier to accessing critical healthcare services. Those living in rural communities face unique health care challenges, and women, including pregnant women, are among the most significantly impacted. We need to expand the pipeline of diverse healthcare professionals and equip them with high-quality, specialized training to serve these communities. By doing so, we can dismantle barriers to care and help meet the unique health needs of rural patients.
Blake Simpson is chief communications and corporate affairs officer of Adtalem Global Education.
