Technology and Rural Healthcare in Canada

By Sandra Dunham

It would be difficult to remain unaware of the healthcare challenges facing Canada in recent years, especially in rural areas. And while many of the proposed solutions call for assistance in attracting healthcare specialists to remote communities, it appears that technology may be a big part of the solution. Technology will allow specialists in major large, teaching facilities to assist physicians and patients in more remote communities. 

In the 1990’s, I worked in a small, rural but not remote, hospital in southern Ontario. I recall a conversation with a physician who was new to the community, having arrived from Thunder Bay. He commented on the difference in treating headaches in Thunder Bay and South Ontario. “In Thunder Bay, we say take two aspirin and call me in the morning. In Toronto, we send the person for a CT scan, and send them to a specialist, after which we suggest the aspirin.” While this is clearly an exaggeration, there is no question that people in rural and remote areas have less access to healthcare than their urban counterparts. 

While this has an impact on patient care, it also has a significant impact on the recruitment and retention of medical personnel in those communities. A 2017 article in the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine identifies two of the top three issues in encouraging physicians to practice in rural and remote communities were access to professional educational opportunities and connection to specialists. Both issues are increasingly being solved by technology. (The third issue was family and spousal support.) 

Here are some of the exciting breakthroughs using technology that could be game changers for rural communities:

• In BC, Remote Patient Monitoring began in 2011 and was expanded greatly during the pandemic. Initially, RPM was primarily used to help patients monitor their own chronic diseases. In 2017, Community Paramedics assisted in setting up equipment, which was connected to a “central monitoring team.” More recently, this patient monitoring has been expanded to cancer care, diabetes in pregnancy care, Cystic Fibrosis Care, Cardiac Care, and even childhood oncology. This technology allows the patient to send information to a specialist and receive advice virtually. 

• In Saskatchewan, a “Virtual Health Hub” (VHH) was announced in 2024. The VHH will use virtual care technologies to serve remote communities. The VHH is slated to open in 2027 and has already begun training Virtual Health Hub assistants in those communities. 

• People in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario may soon have local access to very specialized stroke care surgery without travel or delay. With only about 18 stroke cases each year, this type of specialized surgery has been impractical in “the Soo.” But now, with a heart specialist and catheterization lab in Sault Ste. Marie plus a robotics expert in Toronto, the impractical becomes possible.  

• In 2023, St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia opened a research institute to improve the health of rural Nova Scotians. As well as conducting research and training, the institute will use technology such as simulators and virtual reality to improve health care training in rural communities. 

Technology to provide care in remote locations is not new. I recall seeing an X-ray machine in the early 1990s that “faxed” images to specialists in larger communities. Telemedicine arrived in the late 1990s. Every year brings changes, small and large, that create evolution in healthcare. The improvement in technology has the capacity to make healthcare in rural communities more convenient and will save time, money, and even lives.