Finding the Edges of Problems: Social Media as an Exploratory Research Tool.

Social media use in public health and other health related research applications has seen a rapid increase in recent years. However, there has been very limited utilization of this growing digital sector in agricultural injury research. Social media offers immense potential in gathering informal data, both text and images, converting them into knowledge, which can open up avenues for research, policy, and practice. There are a number of ways social media data can be utilized in agricultural injury research. This paper touches on the adoption of these data sources in health research and discusses the use of social media as an exploratory research tool that can peer into and identify the edges of potential health and safety problems.

Rural Telehealth Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Long-term Infrastructure Commitment May Support Rural Health Care Systems Resilience.

Amid concerns of inadequate medical supplies and staffing anticipated from a surge in COVID-19 cases, many health care systems across the United States (U.S.) began shutting down non-essential patient services in March 2020. These sudden shifts bring up questions about the long-term effects of COVID-19 on already fragile rural health care systems and the ability of rural populations, including farmers and farm workers, to meet their health care needs. To provide alternative and safe access to health care, the Federal government relaxed telehealth regulations, which effectively removed some of the largest regulatory barriers that had limited the adoption of telehealth in the U.S. In this commentary, we draw on the example of the Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS), a large rural health care system in Wisconsin and provide an early assessment of how it adjusted its telehealth services during the early months of COVID-19. While the long-term effects of the pandemic on rural health care systems will not be known for some time, the example of MCHS points to the importance of on-going and sustained investments to support the resilience of health care systems and their ability to weather crises. With early evidence that MCHS patients and practitioners are interested in continuing to use telehealth post-COVID-19, we conclude our commentary by offering three recommendations to remove hurdles and improve quality of telehealth care.