Nursing practices in Primary Health Care in rural areas: a scoping review.

OBJECTIVES

to identify and analyze the scope of practices and strategies developed by nurses in Primary Health Care in rural areas.

METHODS

a scoping review was conducted in the MEDLINE, Embase, and VHL databases, which included articles published in the last ten years.

RESULTS

forty-eight articles were included, mostly from Australia and predominantly qualitative in approach. The main practices identified were: case management; health promotion and disease prevention practices; care for people with chronic diseases; practices mediated by Information and Communication Technologies; home visits; service management; medication prescription; practice transfer between professionals; emergency care; and palliative care.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: nurses in rural Primary Health Care develop a wide range of practices, essential for expanding and improving access to health. However, they face challenges related to the lack of continuing education, poor healthcare service infrastructure, and a significant workload.