Identifying rural health care needs using community conversations

Abstract

Context: Community input can lead to better-defined goals in an organization. With this in mind, the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences embarked on a series of 13 meetings with representatives of organizations serving rural communities, including 5 Native American reservations.

Purpose: To give a detailed description of the steps involved in planning, and the outcomes and lessons learned from the meetings. Organizations will be able to use this information when incorporating community involvement as part of their planning process.

Project: Each meeting included a presentation of the Center for Rural Health efforts throughout the state and a discussion in which residents were asked about health care barriers they have encountered and how the Center for Rural Health could align its efforts to assist communities.

Conclusions: The conversations from these meetings have provided a wealth of information about barriers to providing quality health care facing rural and Native American residents. The Center for Rural Health has incorporated this information into its strategic planning process and has formed several work groups to address issues raised. Community conversations allow organizations to better determine priorities that will be valid and realistic to the communities they serve.