Humphreys J S
School of Health and Human Sciences, La Trobe University Bendigo, Victoria, Australia.
Aust J Rural Health. 1998 Nov;6(4):212-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1584.1998.tb00315.x.
Rural and remote Australia is characterised by considerable geographical and social diversity. There is no 'natural' classification of what constitutes 'rural' or 'remote', and precise definition of what is meant by the term 'rural' has proved to be an elusive goal. Nonetheless, it is recognised that the differentiation of rural areas has important implications for healthcare planning and the research that underpins it. Whether it be the development of resource allocation formulae that determine the provision, location and type of rural health services, measuring service utilisation rates as an indicator of need for services or health outcome measures, the way in which populations and communities are delimited as urban, rural and remote will always influence and sometimes may even determine the assessment. The time is ripe for the development of an agreed classification for the investigation of rural health issues.
澳大利亚农村和偏远地区具有显著的地理和社会多样性。对于何为“农村”或“偏远地区”，并没有“天然”的分类，而“农村”一词的确切定义已被证明是一个难以实现的目标。尽管如此，人们认识到农村地区的划分对医疗保健规划及其背后的研究具有重要意义。无论是制定资源分配方案以确定农村医疗服务的提供、地点和类型，衡量服务利用率作为服务需求或健康结果指标，还是界定城市、农村和偏远地区人口与社区的方式，都将始终影响甚至有时可能决定评估结果。现在是时候制定一个商定的分类标准来研究农村卫生问题了。
