Rural and Remote Health is an open-access international academic journal serving rural and remote communities and publishing articles by rural health practitioners, educators, researchers and policy makers.

This exploratory study presents self-reported dietary supplement use among peri-menopausal women in rural Hawaiʻi. Regular use of supplements was notably higher in this population compared with results reported in communities in other nations and different geographic regions of the US. As the majority of respondents reported receiving supplement information from a clinician, healthcare providers are encouraged to engage in thoughtful discussion with their patients regarding supplement use.

Rural doctors practising in resource-limited settings display courage when they are required to work at the limits of their scope of practice to provide the medical care that is required by their community. Although courage can be an integral part of clinical practice, the underlying attributes of clinical courage are not well described in the literature. This Original Research article contributes to the study of clinical courage in rural doctors by reporting on testing of a recently developed questionnaire. Better understanding of clinical courage may contribute to training, support and retention strategies for rural healthcare professionals.

Advanced Skills Training (AST) is an opportunity for GPs to further refine their skills across one or more medical specialties. Rural training pathways have evolved to suit the needs of rural communities, trainees, trainers, health services and medical colleges. However, current rural training opportunities may be missing the mark on bridging the gap between urban and rural health and the demands on GPs have expanded beyond traditional boundaries, necessitating a re-evaluation of the skills and competencies required to address the complex and multifaceted health needs of diverse patient populations. This Review article examines the current value and fitness for purpose of AST for rural clinical practice.

Inter-hospital transfers from rural to urban hospitals in Aotearoa New Zealand are often essential for diagnostic investigations or specialist care that is unavailable rurally. Clinical information is coded and stored for health system analyses, including rural-urban differences in health outcomes. Anecdotally, clinical coding is often performed by clinicians or reception staff without formal coding training in many NZ rural hospitals, and by a designated hospital clinical coding team with university or sub-tertiary coding training in urban hospitals. No NZ literature has been found comparing the accuracy of clinical coding between rural and urban hospitals. This Original Research article examines whether any discrepancies exist in primary diagnosis codes for patients who underwent an inter-hospital transfer from a rural to an urban hospital.

Multiple international studies have shown that farming is one of the occupations in which workers have the lowest mental health scores. Farmers are exposed to unfavorable working conditions, such as long working hours and great physical demands, and may be more reluctant to seek help regarding their mental health than other occupational groups. This exploratory study investigates which facilitators and barriers farmers perceive as important in their everyday lives regarding their mental wellbeing.

Adaptation over many generations of living in the harsh and extreme conditions of the Russian Arctic has produced a ‘northern’ type of metabolism, characterized by increased protein–lipid metabolism and minimization of carbohydrate metabolism. Increasing urbanization in the region has resulted in less reliance on traditional diets and lifestyles, leading to increased incidence of obesity and non-communicable diseases. This Original Research study investigates the status of lipid metabolism and variability in body mass related to ethnicity and lifestyle in Russian Arctic residents.

Ultrasonography is increasingly used across medical specialties, including family medicine, where it could reduce diagnostic delays, improve accuracy, and lower healthcare costs but ultrasonography training is not standardized in the family medicine curriculum. This Research Letter reports on the the feasibility and perceived usefulness of a one-day introductory ultrasonography course for family medicine interns at the Brest School of Medicine, France.