Rural hospital focus: staffing

Abstract

Rural and Remote Health is committed to the task of providing a freely accessible, international, peer-reviewed evidence base for rural and remote health practice. Inherent in this aim is a recognition of the universal nature of rural health issues that transcends both regional interests and local culture. While RRH is already publishing peer-reviewed material, the Editorial Board believes many articles of potential worth are largely inaccessible due to their primary publication in small-circulation, paper-based journals whose readership is geographically limited. In order to augment our already comprehensive, international evidence base, the RRH Editorial Board has decided to republish, with permission, selected articles from such journals. This will also give worthwhile small-circulation articles the wide audience only a web-based journal can offer. The RRH editorial team encourages journal users to nominate similar, suitable articles from their own world region. First, then, in what RRH hopes will become a regular feature, is a series of articles from the prominent South African rural doctor, Professor Ian Couper. This article first appeared in South African Family Practice 2000; 22 (5), and is reproduced here in its original form, with kind permission of both publisher and author. This article introduced a regular column feature in SAFP, 'Rural hospital focus', and was entitled 'Staffing'.;