Research on rural health needs, including at the regional level, remains relevant. Objective. To assess the prospects of development of primary health care in rural areas of the Stavropol Territory by expanding the labor functions of nurses as part of mobile medical teams (based on the opinion of the heads of rural health posts and analysis of Russian and foreign experience). Materials and methods. Author’s questionnaire was filled out by 168 paramedic practitioners — heads of rural health posts in the Stavropol Territory. The questionnaire contained 20 open-ended and closed questions with a single or multiple choice of answers. Free-text fields were provided. Study period — March-May 2025. SPSS Statistics 27 was used for data processing. Statistical significance of differences was confirmed at p<0.05. Results. According to respondents, staff imbalance (37.8%) and high workload on personnel (28.6%) are the main problems. More than 30% of respondents rated the level of competence of their employees highly, a direct association of this parameter with the availability of booking a medical specialist’s appointment in the central district hospital and satisfaction of the head of rural health post with his work was shown. To communicate with colleagues from other health care providers, the telephone was used in 2/3 of cases, e-mail — in 1⁄2 of cases. Most respondents mentioned nurses as key employees in mobile forms of work. The vast majority of respondents chose preventive work with the population as an important component of primary health care provision. A number of needs for rural healthcare in the Stavropol Territory, which can be met by nursing staff through expanding their labor functions during mobile forms of work, was identified. Conclusion. The extension of the occupational role of nurses in mobile medical teams will allow to increase the overall attractiveness of rural work and improve access to health care for residents of remote areas.
Davidov et al. (2026) studied this question.