Brumbaugh Bethany, Lally Jag, Brodell Robert
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Dermatol Online J. 2024 Oct 15;30(5). doi: 10.5070/D330564425.
This commentary underscores the urgent issue of limited access to dermatologic care in rural areas, leading to adverse health outcomes. With only 10% of dermatologists practicing in rural America, the "rural mortality penalty" contributes to escalating morbidity and mortality. Disparities in dermatologist distribution, particularly in minority-majority counties with lower incomes, worsen health inequities. Despite these challenges, initiatives such as pipeline programs, rural university offices, rural dermatology residency tracks, teledermatology, and Project ECHO (a collaborative model of medical education and care) are promising. This commentary stresses the need for academic dermatologists to recruit more rural medical students and train more residents with a rural upbringing. This predicts future practice in such communities. Immediate action to address the widening rural dermatology gap is needed. The formation of the Rural Access to Dermatology Society, with its first meeting in the spring of 2024 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, is a key part of this process.
这篇评论强调了农村地区皮肤科护理服务获取受限这一紧迫问题，该问题导致了不良健康后果。在美国，仅有10%的皮肤科医生在农村执业，“农村死亡率惩罚”致使发病率和死亡率不断攀升。皮肤科医生分布不均，尤其是在低收入的少数族裔占多数的县，加剧了健康不平等。尽管存在这些挑战，但诸如人才培养计划、农村大学办公室、农村皮肤科住院医师培训项目、远程皮肤病学以及“ECHO计划”（一种医学教育与护理协作模式）等举措很有前景。这篇评论强调学术皮肤科医生需要招募更多农村医学生，并培训更多有农村成长背景的住院医师。这预示着未来在这些社区的执业情况。需要立即采取行动来解决农村皮肤病学差距不断扩大的问题。农村皮肤病学协会的成立，其首次会议于2024年春季在美国皮肤科学会年会上召开，是这一进程的关键部分。
