Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: 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.
Source: Dermatology Online Journal
DOI: 10.5070/d330564425
Authors: Bethany Brumbaugh, Jag Lally, Robert Brodell
Institutions: Harvard University, University of New Mexico
Language: English
Subfield: Emergency Medical Services
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $300
OpenAlex ID: W4404136707