Best Practice in Rural Areas-Clinical and Management
How do organisations in rural areas ensure best practice both in clinical practice, staff needs and in how organisations are managed? The challenges range from offering best practice, client centred outcomes to clients across a sparsely occupied area, trying to ‘fit’ clients in to project specific funding (or worse having to tell clients they don’t fit into any of the programs we offer), to ensuring confidentiality in a small community where clinicians and clients meet across the fruit and veg in the shopping centre, in doctor’s surgeries and in the main street, when client visits for counselling are observed by the community in which they live. Added to this is the inherent problem of first attracting and then retaining qualified experienced staff to work in a regional area and then provided the staff with all that they need to ensure best practice. This paper will examine the challenges faced by rural organisations to ensure the needs of rural communities and staff are not overlooked. Small population does not equate to small needs. There are inherent costs, not all financial, and many rewards associated with offering services to these communities.