Rural nursing is multidimensional, unlike Peplau’s onedimensional
theory of interaction. Winters and Lee (2010)
described concepts of rural nursing practice. The first dimension
of rural nursing is health, which is defined by the patient
and as the ability to work and maintain activities of daily
living. Nurses, who practice in rural settings, need to
approach nurse-patient interactions with rural concepts in
mind. The rural nurse needs to understand the rural dweller’s
belief systems in order to promote positive interactions that
lead to healthy outcomes. Health to a farmer probably may
mean that he can continue plowing the farm for the crop due
tomorrow. A trip to the emergency department for an illness
or injury would be delayed if he could perform his activities.
A second concept in rural nursing is isolation and distance.
Rural people are often isolated from clinics, doctors’ offices,
hospitals, and even pharmacies. A third concept of rural
nursing is self-reliance and use of informal healthcare