[ANSWER]Nursing 438 Trends and Issues Online Course Assignment 2- Improving Access to Healthcare in Rural and Remote Canada: Implications for Nurses and Healthcare Policy

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Access to Healthcare

According to McIntyre and McDonald (2019), healthcare access challenges in rural and remote Canada fall into two broad categories: access to health services and resources needed for health challenges. Access to health services challenges are the geographical and socioeconomic factors that make access to healthcare difficult. These include a challenging topography, large geographical distances, adverse weather, lower incomes, and a huge presence of Indigenous communities (McIntyre & McDonald, 2019). Rural and remote Canada is characterized by topographical features like expansive mountains that make the establishment of transport and healthcare infrastructure difficult (Hunt & Hunt, 2016).

Not only does this problem result in geographically isolated communities, it poses challenges to access to healthcare facilities, a problem that is further compounded by the large geographical distances from residences to healthcare facilities (Fleet et al., 2013). Many people in rural and remote Canada have to travel hundreds of kilometers by road just to access the nearest healthcare facility or metropolitan area. In northern regions, transport problems are worsened by the harsh weather prevalent in these regions (Browne, n.d.). Prolonged winters characterized by extremely low temperatures and unusually high snow and cloud levels often make road and air travel highly perilous, if not impossible, for several days at a time.

These challenges result in high travel costs, not to mention the immense psychological toll they have on people living in these areas. High travel costs make the cost of healthcare in these areas particularly high, a major challenge for a population that already endures greater poverty rates and financial constraints compared to the urban population (Fleet et al., 2020. Economic constraints in rural and remote areas further hinder access to healthcare by impeding early diagnosis and treatment, making prescription drugs unaffordable, and hampering access to emergency and specialized care (McIntyre & McDonald, 2019). These challenges translate to poor health outcomes.  In terms of Indigenous communities, rural and remote areas in Canada are home to over half of the country’s…

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