Informal peer support for rural doctors.

Introduction: Practising medicine exposes physicians to emotionally difficult situations, which can be devastating, and for which they might be unprepared. Informal peer support has been recognised as helpful, although this phenomenon is understudied. Hence, it is important to develop a better understanding of the features of helpful informal peer support from the experiences of physicians who have successfully moved through such difficult events.

Building point-of-care ultrasound capacity in rural emergency departments: An educational innovation.

Introduction: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) use is the standard of care in emergency medicine (EM), but rural physicians face barriers to obtaining and retaining this skill and cite low confidence in their use of POCUS. Without access to high-quality educational opportunities, this important clinical tool may not be used to its full potential in rural hospitals. The Hands-On Ultrasound Education (HOUSE) programme, launched in 2015 by the University of British Columbia's (BC) Division of Rural Continuing Professional Development, is a rurally focused POCUS training and education programme that travels to rural and remote communities and aims to build a rural POCUS community of practice within BC.

Understanding how emergency medicine physicians survive and thrive in rural practice: a theoretical model.

Introduction: The challenges facing emergency medicine (EM) services in Canada reflect the limitations of the entire healthcare system. The emergency department (ED) is uniquely situated in the healthcare system such that shortcomings in hospital- and community-based services are often first revealed there. This is especially true in rural settings, where there are additional site-specific barriers to the provision of EM care.