Rural Healthcare and the Pandemic

Never have healthcare workers been more challenged in their physical, emotional, and mental well-being more than during the COVID-19 crisis beginning in 2020. Many of these were nurses who witnessed the pandemic from several perspectives in a variety of healthcare settings.

Rural Healthcare and the Pandemic: Challenges, Solutions, and Future Needs provides readers with insight from the lived experiences of those who were confronted with challenges at the bedside and beyond. These stories not only shed light on real lessons learned from the global health crisis, but also underscore how the treatment of patients in rural and remote areas differed from that of patients in more dense, highly populated areas.

The case studies reflect numerous interviews conducted with various professional healthcare providers and leaders, as well as community leaders, across the U.S. Their testimonies provide powerful and invaluable reflections, thoughts, and ideas from their tireless efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics addressed include leadership during the pandemic, access to care, ambulatory services, the pandemic’s impact on mental health, nursing curriculum, continuum of care, and the future of nursing.