Providing Care When Resources Are Limited

Chronic wounds are equal opportunity problems affecting individuals with a diverse range of resources to care for them. Clinicians find themselves challenged with the need to provide optimal care in the face of limited resources. My session explores potential programs for obtaining assistance for challenging situations as well as creative methods for meeting the physical and wound care needs of the patient.

We have known for years that rural health care providers face many challenges. Rural areas do not typically have access to specialists. Those of us who work in rural areas have to work longer hours due to less support staff and the pay is lower compared to our urban counterparts. Products and other resources are typically limited, caregiver assistance is more limited, and educational opportunities are fewer.

Rural areas offer fewer opportunities for working spouses, and schools in rural communities may have fewer resources. Rural residents tend to be poorer. On average, per capita income in rural areas is $9,242 lower than the average per capita income in the United States, and rural Americans are more likely to live below the poverty level.¹

While 20% of the U.S. population lives in rural communities, only 11% of physicians practice in these areas. Rural residents also tend to be diagnosed with cancer at later stages and have worse outcomes. Rural residents have greater transportation difficulties reaching health care providers, often traveling great distances to reach a doctor or hospital. Rural communities have more uninsured residents, as well as higher rates of unemployment, leading to less access to care. Rural areas have more frequent occurrences of diabetes and coronary heart disease than non-rural areas. In addition, lack of high-speed internet access can be a hindrance to accessing information, representing another challenge rural Americans face.

I wanted to make a difference for our patients in this community. In 2008, I was encouraged by an administrator at Louisiana Extended Care Hospital–Natchitoches to help educate other providers and to “spread the wound care word” across the continuum. This administrative support allowed me to start educating through my newly developed consulting company, since this area did not have an outpatient wound center at the time.

My motto was, if patients can’t travel to a local wound center (as it was nonexistent), then I would travel to them. This effort increased local awareness, education, resources, communication, and coordination of services to improve outcomes. I saw opportunities when others classified local clinicians as wound care “competitors”—as vendors trying to peddle products. I saw networking opportunities and the chance to assist our patients and viewed vendors not as a “car salesman” or product peddlers but as education extenders. I’d soon learn there were talented clinicians in our region who were practicing in a silo. It was an aha! moment for me. My mentor and longtime friend, Dot Weir, RN, CWON, CWS, was one who empowered me to make a difference in my local community.

My vision was to save limbs through education for clinicians at every level and becoming the “air-traffic controller” or “the hub” for our patients until attaining my dream of having my own “airport—an outpatient wound center.  

My presentation will consider the challenges in providing health care in areas with limited resources, and will offer solutions.

To watch “Providing Care When Resources Are Limited,” click here.  

Reference

1. National Rural Health Association. About rural health care.