Accessible Health: An Evidenced Based Approach to Improve User Experience and Clinical Sustainability within Rural Healthcare

The manner through which health care is provided evolves through advances in medical knowledge as well as improvements in supporting infrastructure and processes. The rate at which this change is made possible is increasingly driven by non-medical factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, the necessity to operate safely in a COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously operating with economically sustainable processes and infrastructure. This is especially true for underserved populations in rural communities. Acknowledging and understanding these changing environments allows one to better optimize the sometimes competing interests of user experience with sustainable clinical practices. Healthcare is vital to the economic viability and wellbeing of rural communities. This study explores existing research and precedents focused on promoting access and delivery of primary care to underserved populations while supporting sustainable operations for medical facilities. Minimizing the distance between patients and their providers while maintaining a high quality of care at each clinic will make healthcare more accessible and relevant for people living in rural communities. This Tyranny of Distance influences user access to necessary healthcare services while concurrently shaping available options for sustainable clinical support. What are the best practices to extend care delivery and optimize clinical operations to improve the healthcare experience in these areas? This study identified best practices and implemented an evidence based approach capable of creating and supporting accessible, adaptable patient care settings. The patient experience and their willingness to accept new approaches, such as virtual care, must always be at the forefront of care and include eficient, efective, high quality care. A broad comprehensive literature review was employed to understand challenges in healthcare as well as identify what are driving the trends we see in the primary care designs today. From the extensive literature review, over 110 articles were reviewed all of which were applicable to topics related to rural healthcare objectives. Primary research was completed through interviewing design professionals, health providers, and facilities managers associated with healthcare in Nebraska. The extensive research was used to identify and develop a framework for which various drivers, trends, and data streams can be synthesized to generate a flexible framework for rural healthcare delivery. Advisors: Lloyd (Bud) Shenefelt, Yunwoo Nam, Steve Hardy, & Gordon Schol

Pope John Paul II and the Dignity of the Human Being

Since his election in 1978 as the Successor to the Apostle Peter, His Holiness Pope John Paul II has remained one of the principal protagonists on the global stage for the dignity and value of every human being. Although the popular press and media sometimes have been slow to recognize this message, an online search of the Holy Father\u27s copious encyclicals, addresses, and homilies reveals that he has advocated human dignity literally hundreds of times during the course of his twenty-five year pontificate. In fact, long before his election as Pope, Karol Wojtyla was developing his understanding of the dignity of the human person in his philosophical and theological writings. The belief that each human being possesses a metaphysical value simply in the fact of his or her existence remains at the root of John Paul II\u27s indefatigable defense of human dignity. In this brief essay, my purpose is not to afford a comprehensive presentation and critique of the philosophical and theological foundations of human dignity, but rather to highlight certain features of John Paul II\u27s thinking that raise questions about disturbing trends in the law