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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Nurse practitioners and other advanced practice registered nurses

Models to Estimate the Economic Impact of a Rural Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant
Discusses the advantages of using nurse practitioners and physician assistants for the provision of primary care services to meet the workforce challenges in rural settings and how they contribute economically to the community.
Additional links: Summary
Author(s): Fred C. Eilrich, Gerald A. Doeksen, Cheryl F. St. Clair
Date: 08/2014
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Rural Health Works
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Support for Rural Recruitment and Practice among U.S. Nurse Practitioner Education Programs
Examines nurse practitioner (NP) education programs across the U.S. to identify those actively promoting NP practice in rural areas. Describes their use of education methods that may promote rural practice and identifies barriers to recruiting rural students and providing rural NP clinical training.
Author(s): Susan M. Skillman, Louise Kaplan, C. Holly A. Andrilla, Stefanie Ostergard, Davis G. Patterson
Date: 05/2014
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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State Variability in Supply of Office-based Primary Care Providers: United States, 2012
Data brief covering the supply of primary care providers. Includes national rural-urban comparisons for primary care providers per 100,000 population and for use of physician assistants and nurse practitioners in physician practices. See Figure 4.
Author(s): Esther Hing, Chun-Ju Hsiao
Date: 05/2014
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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Running the Numbers: The Maldistribution of Health Care Providers in Rural and Underserved Areas in North Carolina
Discusses the maldistribution of health care professionals related to population needs in rural North Carolina. Highlights physician workforce shortages in primary care, general surgery, psychiatry, licensed nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.
Author(s): Julie C. Spero, Erin P. Fraher
Citation: North Carolina Medical Journal, 75(1), 74-79
Date: 01/2014
Type: Document
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Projecting the Supply and Demand for Primary Care Practitioners Through 2020
Examines the adequacy of the future supply of primary care providers to meet the projected demand for primary care. Includes information on physician, nurse practitioner, and physician assistant supply and demand. Discusses likely causes of growth in demand for primary care, and potential impact of increased use of NPs and PAs on alleviating the primary care physician shortage. Section 8 of the full report discusses geographic disparities.
Date: 11/2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health Resources and Services Administration
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Most Family Physicians Work Routinely With Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, or Certified Nurse Midwives
Reports that more than half of family physicians work with nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or certiļ¬ed nurse midwives, and doing so helps ensure access to health care services, particularly in rural areas.
Author(s): Lars E. Peterson, Robert L. Phillips, James C. Puffer, Andrew Bazemore, Stephen Petterson
Citation: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 26(3), 244-245
Date: 2013
Type: Document
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Achieving Health Equity through Nursing Workforce Diversity: Eleventh Report to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Congress
Summarizes progress in nursing workforce diversity over the past 10 years. Highlights Advanced Practice RNs who are independent care providers who often locate in underserved and minority communities, the growth of online nursing education to rural communities, and recruiting and retaining nursing professionals in rural and underserved areas. Mentions rural throughout.
Date: 2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice
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Growth and Changes in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Workforce with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Studied how additional supplemental funding to the National Health Service Corps through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was focused on granting more loan repayment awards to clinicians who agreed to work in underserved areas, affected the NHSC's workforce. States that proportions of the NHSC's workforce serving in rural areas changed only modestly.
Author(s): Donald E. Pathman, Thomas R. Konrad
Citation: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 25(5), 723-733
Date: 09/2012
Type: Document
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The Use of Hospitalists in Small Rural Hospitals
Describes small rural hospitals' use of hospitalists, who assume responsibility for patient care during inpatient hospital stays. Includes information on how hospitalists are used at these facilities. Discusses impacts on healthcare quality, hospital finances, and recruitment and retention of physicians.
Author(s): Michelle Casey, Ira Moscovice
Date: 04/2012
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center
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Understanding Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Distribution in Urban and Rural Areas of the United States Using National Provider Identifier Data
Examines the distribution of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) by state and by urban and rural areas. Describes provider characteristics and highlights states with a higher portion of APRNs in rural areas. Includes nurse practitioners, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives, and clinical nurse specialists.
Additional links: Policy Brief
Author(s): Susan M. Skillman, Louise Kaplan, Meredith A. Fordyce, Peter D. McMenamin, Mark P. Doescher
Date: 04/2012
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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