Skip to main content

Distributed for Dartmouth College Press

Handbook for Rural Health Care Ethics

A Practical Guide for Professionals

The rural community presents not only distinct health care delivery challenges but also ethical problems for clinicians and administrators of small, rural health care facilities. Health care delivered in a rural context—in closely knit, tightly interdependent small community settings—poses unique ethical considerations for clinical practitioners. For example, a provider in a resource-poor rural setting may be faced with treating a family member, friend, business associate, or neighbor, since the role separation between clinician and patient that predominates in the urban setting is less likely to occur in a small town. Because of the unique rural context, the solutions that health care providers develop to resolve complex ethics dilemmas may differ from solutions reached in urban areas. The Handbook for Rural Health Care Ethics is designed to be a useful resource for clinicians and administrators in rural settings. It draws on the available research and real-life examples to paint a picture of challenging, yet all-too-familiar ethics conflicts while offering strategies for a proactive, preventive approach to ethical issues.

378 pages | 5 1/2 x 8 1/2

Medicine


View all books from Dartmouth College Press

Table of Contents

RURAL HEALTH CARE ETHICS • Introduction – William A. Nelson • A Landscape View of Life and Health Care in Rural Settings – Angeline Bushy • The Ethical Life of Rural Health Care Professionals – Ruth B. Purtilo • “Doing” Ethics in Rural Health Care Institutions – Jacqueline J. Glover • COMMON ETHICS ISSUES IN RURAL COMMUNITIES • Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: Patient-Provider Relationships – Rachel Davis, Laura Weiss Roberts • Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: Overlapping Roles – Andrew Pomerantz • Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: Privacy and Confidentiality – Tom Townsend • Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: Shared Decision-Making – Denise Niemira • Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: Allocation of Scarce Resources – Paul B. Gardent, Susan A. Reeves • Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: Stigma and Illness – Aruna Tummala, Laura Weiss Roberts • Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: End-of-Life Decision-Making – Denise Niemira, Tom Townsend • Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: Recognizing and Disclosing Medical Errors – Ann Freeman Cook, Helena Hoas • Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: Reproductive Health Care – Barbara Elliott, Ruth Westra • Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: Health Information Technology – David A. Fleming • RURAL ETHICS RESOURCES • Practical Strategies for Addressing and Preventing Ethics Issues in Rural Settings – William A. Nelson, Karen E. Schifferdecker • Developing Rural Ethics Networks – Lisa Anderson-Shaw, Jacqueline J. Glover • Rural Health Care Ethics: A Selected Bibliography – Mary Ann Greene

Be the first to know

Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!

Sign up here for updates about the Press