Distance Learning Approaches for Physicians and Disadvantaged Minority Populations in Rural Pennsylvania: Effective and Inexpensive Telemedicine?

Collaborative outreach, education, and health service delivery efforts are common within projects such as our ROCOG Cancer Disparities Research Program (CDRP), sponsored by the Radiation Research Program of the National Cancer Institute. Models to reduce health disparities in rural areas often include evaluating regional characteristics, providing affordable wide reaching communications between parties involved, technical innovations, and focus on both healthcare facilities and communities as follows:

First, understand your target: Utilization of telecommunications technology in rural communities, healthcare facilities and physician offices is limited due to funding/equipment scarcity, poor network access for many institutions/families, and a paucity of health care facilities. Rural communities often demonstrate the following: 1.) long distances and/or travel times, 2.) low physician densities, 3.) few hospitals/clinics, 4.) small populations, 5.) high poverty levels, 6) poor education, and 7.) inadequate insurance coverage.

Then determine your goals: We sought to provide distance learning about healthy lifestyles and cancer for rural healthcare workers/physicians (RHCWP), community members and community advocacy groups. For RHCWP, continuing medical education/CME/CE credits are key goals of this initiative. For communities, understanding cancer diagnosis/ treatment and clinical research programs and promoting active minority population participation are key objectives.

Finally devise cost-effective strategies and evaluate their application: These strategies include phone conferencing, an educational website, E-mails, mailed DVDs, mobile videoconferences and web-based streaming videoconference.

Our detailed “trials and tribulations” and outcomes measures provide a discussion background for assessing difficulties and resolving “techno gaps” often noted within underserved rural communities due to restricted levels of income, education and opportunity.