Background: In the mid-1990s, significant gaps existed in the quality of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) care between rural and urban hospitals. Since then, overall AMI care quality has improved. This study uses more recent data to determine whether rural-urban AMI quality gaps have persisted. Methods: Using inpatient records data for 34,776…

Context: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a common and important cause of admission to US rural hospitals, as transport of patients with AMI to urban settings can result in unacceptable delays in care. Purpose: To examine the quality of care for patients with AMI in rural hospitals with differing degrees of remoteness from urban centers.…

Methods: This study compares characteristics of rural and urban registered nurses (RNs) in the United States using data from the 2000 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. RNs in 3 types of rural areas are examined using the rural-urban commuting area taxonomy. Findings: Rural and urban RNs are similar in age and sex; nonwhites and…

Between 1980 and 1988, 132 rural hospitals closed and as a result many rural towns also lost physicians, including 19 communities that were still without a physician 2 years after closure. Smaller, more remote towns had few physicians to begin with and were more likely than larger towns to lose physicians along with their hospitals. (LP)