Rural Opportunities for Practice Education (ROPE)

 

The ROPE website is an essential resource intent to bring students together with communities, ideas, and energy to learn about rural placement experiences.

Each student and group of students on placement makes a significant impact through the energy and ideas they bring to the communities—through personal and professional growth, including their outstanding leadership and feedback.

In a rural community, the impact is often greater as resources are often limited, and yet the capacity for innovation is often greater.

What is Rural?

Statistics Canada (2012) defines a rural area as comprising “fewer than 1,000 inhabitants and a population density below 400 people per square kilometer” (p. 1). In terms of health care, a population no greater than 10,000, at least 80 km distant from the nearest major hospital, can be considered rural. (Van Hofwegen, Kirkham, & Harwood, 2005).

 

Reference:

Statistics Canada (2012). Census in brief: Canada’s rural population since 1851. Ottawa, ON: Author.

Van Hofwegen, L., Kirkham, S., & Harwood, C. (2005). The strength of rural nursing: Implications for undergraduate nursing education. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 2(1), Article 27.