Access to Healthcare in Rural Jordan: Challenges Faced by Nurses and Innovative Solutions - A Narrative Review

Access to healthcare in rural Jordan presents significant challenges due to geographical isolation, limited resources, and a shortage of medical personnel. This disparity in healthcare services affects the well-being of rural communities, leading to higher rates of untreated illnesses and preventable conditions. This paper explores the challenges faced by rural populations in Jordan and highlights innovative approaches aimed at achieving equitable healthcare access for all populations.

Several databases were utilized, including PubMed (through MEDLINE), CINAHL, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate. The researchers used different combinations of keywords that mainly incorporate the following terms: rural areas, challenges, and innovative solutions. This narrative review included a total of nineteen studies; eleven of these studies highlighted the prospects and implementation challenges for nurses using telemedicine interventions targeted at enhancing healthcare accessibility in remote areas. Five studies also looked at the function of mobile clinics, namely in assisting nurse-led community health projects and reaching isolated populations. The remaining studies focused on topics, like policy-level innovations, training for rural healthcare delivery, and the distribution of nurses in the workforce.

Key barriers included limited healthcare infrastructure, a shortage of trained personnel, geographical isolation, and cultural factors that complicate patient care. Nurses often contend with inadequate resources, long travel distances, and insufficient professional development opportunities, which hinder effective service delivery. Therefore, innovative approaches, such as mobile health clinics, telemedicine, and community health worker programs, have emerged as promising strategies to address these issues by enhancing outreach and leveraging technology.

In rural Jordan, access to healthcare is still severely hampered by systemic, financial, and geographic barriers. This gap can be closed by implementing telemedicine, mobile health units, and community health programs. Continued funding is an essential, sustainable approach to guarantee that rural communities receive high-quality healthcare.

Nurses in rural Jordan are crucial in enhancing healthcare access by delivering primary care through mobile clinics, telehealth, community education, and advocating for rural health policy reforms.