Today, many demographics around the world have little to no access to adequate medical care. A particularly important example of this inadequacy lies in rural American cities. Individuals living in rural areas have far too little access to proper medical training, equipment, and care.
This issue is mainly the result of the worsening healthcare infrastructure and a lack of proper training for potential healthcare providers in those areas.
The importance of geography to healthcare is particularly crucial considering that “social, economic, legal, and environmental factors account for 50% of the overall impact on health outcomes, while clinical care accounts for only 20%” (Hsieh et al.). These numbers highlight the urgency of providing the necessary care and training to those in underserved rural communities.
A particularly useful way to improve the education, training, and resources of these healthcare providers is through medical simulation. If rural providers can have access to life-like simulators that replicate real patient conditions, they can practice critical skills on them and be better prepared to assist actual patients. Today, Operative Experience is a leading medical simulation company aiming to close this gap in rural areas.
The Rise of “Emerging” Underserved Populations
When discussing underserved populations, it’s important to identify what specifically is being referred to. Underserved populations typically have to do with geography, income, and race. The type relevant to this topic, however, is emerging underserved populations. Emerging, in this case, refers to populations that were well-served at one point but have since been neglected and left without many crucial resources.
Rural communities fall into this emerging underserved population category because, contrary to the past, individuals living in these rural locations must travel remotely in order to receive medical care, rather than having access to a local clinic around the corner that those living in more urban communities are often afforded.
Additionally, the remoteness of rural medical aid is also due to the closure of many trauma centers, obstetric units, and ICUs. When specifically analyzing this effect on OB units, the urgency is clear. Sources say that EMS providers at these OB units are “effectively operating in a resource-limited environment, managing a high-risk delivery with limited backup, knowing that the NICU is two counties away” (Klein et al.). The struggle for EMS providers to move between counties with ease is even more troubling considering that ambulances can be held up for days when attempting inter-facility transfers. Transportation delays are often caused by the increasing population in rural counties due to climate migration and the decrease in resources due to hospital closures, a shortage of staff, and minimal funding.
Due to these poor resources, particularly in education, rural healthcare providers are not given the necessary training and skillset to aid in critical areas such as cardiopulmonary conditions, mass casualty incidents, maternal health, and pediatric care, etc..
Advancing Education Through Medical Simulation
To improve these conflicts, the medical field must have a greater awareness of the social determinants that play a crucial role in a person’s health. In fact, studies have found that a focus on medical training on social determinants leads to “applicability of training to under-serviced populations, and improved engagement of marginalized community members”. (Tunell et al.)
Simulation is an invaluable tool in medical education because it has also been proven that simulation-based training is more effective than lecture-based training. Not only does simulation-based training improve education for medical students, but many of them have also shown a greater interest in providing medical aid to underserved communities after partaking in simulation-based learning.
For example, in a recent hybrid experimental learning program, “71% of participants reported a significant increase in their interest in working in a medically underserved area” (Suresh).
Locations such as Nebraska need much more training by EMS providers in the areas of maternal health and childbirth, for example. Simulation can contribute specifically to this area of training by improving the provider’s clinical skills and judgement so they are better prepared for more high-stress situations.
Overcoming Financial Barriers with Federal Grants
While bringing modern simulators to rural areas may seem like an expensive task, there are numerous federal grant funding sources to ensure that financial burdens do not impede a rural city’s ability to gain full access to all that simulators have to offer. SAMHSA, HRSA, and FEMA are examples of these grant programs, ensuring that the costs of simulators do not hinder a health provider’s ability to receive the necessary training.
Bridging the Gap
While rural areas often lack the necessary equipment to properly aid medical patients in times of need, Operative Experience Inc. (OEI) provides resources to train medical providers to treat patients in these areas that otherwise might not have all of the necessary resources.
For example, the distribution of OEI’s RealMom birthing simulator and C-Celia obstetric emergency simulators ensures that EMS teams, nursing staff, and ED physicians in rural underserved areas can gain the necessary practice on performing precipitous deliveries, hemorrhage control, and treating obstetric complications in locations where alternative aid is hours away.
OEI’s training technology helps prepare EMS and Emergency Department providers in assisting patients with the physiological complexity that extended transportation while in poor health conditions might cause them to have.
Additionally, OEI’s portable, deployable simulation programs offer realistic training scenarios for rural EMS agencies and volunteer departments that would otherwise lack access to professional-grade preparation.
Overall, OEI believes that simulation-based learning should be available to the providers who need it the most, regardless of geographical location. OEI’s RealMom, C-Celia, PCCS, and TCCS Pro simulators continue to provide assistance to patients in underserved areas who otherwise would not receive the medical assistance they need as quickly.
Simulation-based learning shouldn’t be limited by geography. Contact us today to discuss deployable, high-fidelity training solutions tailored for your EMS agency or rural hospital.
References:
- Ferreira, J. M. G., Generoso, J. R., Jr., Marra, A. R., Deliberato, R. O., Dewan, M., Loeb, D., Real, F., Collins, K., Ely, K., Zackoff, M., Lopes, G. O. V., Pardo, I., Gutfreund, M. C., Callado, G. Y., & Mendonça, E. A. (2025). Effectiveness of low-cost, technology-enhanced simulation training for healthcare training in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): A systematic literature review. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 40(16), 4040–4050. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-025-09794-y
- Hsieh, D. T., & Coates, W. C. (2018). Poverty simulation: An experiential learning tool for teaching social determinants of health. AEM Education and Training, 2(1), 51–54. https://doi.org/10.1002/aet2.10076
- Klein, T. A. (2026, June 19). When the wilderness comes to town [Featured article]. Wilderness Medicine Magazine, 43(1).
- Suresh, A., Wighton, N. M., Sorensen, T. E., Palladino, T. C., & Pinto-Powell, R. C. (2022). A hybrid educational approach to service learning: Impact on student attitudes and readiness in working with medically underserved communities. Medical Education Online, 27(1), Article 2122106. https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2022.2122106
