Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Nurses

Strengthening the Rural Workforce: East Alabama Health Tackles Nursing Shortage
Discusses a partnership between East Alabama Health and Chattahoochee Valley Community College to create a licensed practical nurse (LPN) school for employees and sponsor their education.
Date: 02/2026
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
view details

Health Workforce Research Data Center: Annual Report to the Legislature, January 2026
Provides an overview of California's health workforce data, projections, demographics, education and employment trends, and more. Provides county-level data on healthcare occupations including behavioral health providers, nurses and advanced practice registered nurses, allied health professionals, and other clinicians.
Date: 01/2026
Sponsoring organization: California Department of Health Care Access and Information
view details

State of Nursing Education In Kansas
Examines the demand for nursing professionals, the state of nursing education, and nursing education pathways in Kansas. Provides demographic data on nursing students as well as location of nursing education programs by city and county.
Date: 01/2026
Sponsoring organizations: Kansas Nursing Workforce Center, University of Kansas Medical Center
view details

Strengthening Rural Health Care: A Scoping Review of Nurse Recruitment and Retention Strategies
Results of a review identifying recruitment and retention programs for nurses in rural areas, including strategy characteristics and location. Features statistics and a county-level map showing locations of programs and Primary Care Heath Professional Shortage Areas.
Author(s): Kelley Arredondo, Laura Witte, Alexander Paterson-Roberts, et al.
Citation: Medical Care, 64(1S), S18-S25
Date: 01/2026
view details

Predictors of Inpatient RN Turnover in Rural and Urban VHA Hospitals
A study on the rates and associated factors of registered nursing (RN) workforce turnover in rural and urban Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospitals. Breaks down data by RN demographic factors, such as age, salary, and experience within the VHA, and hospital factors, such as average age, average base salary, and average number of units worked, among other factors.
Author(s): Katherine G. Bay, Chase S. Eck, Melissa K. Knox, et al.
Citation: Medical Care, 64(1S), S9-S17
Date: 01/2026
view details

Access To Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners In Kentucky
Report assessing access to sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) and SANE-ready hospitals in 2025 in Kentucky. Offers 10 recommendations to increase access through hospital certifications, training, resource and workforce sharing, compliance, and more. Discusses rural-specific concerns throughout.
Date: 12/2025
Sponsoring organization: Legislative Research Commission
view details

State of the U.S. Health Care Workforce, 2025
Offers demographic data on a variety of health professions from data sources between 2019 and 2024. Examines distribution, education and licensing, and projected shortages for the physician, nursing, and oral health fields. Describes challenges contributing to health workforce shortages. Highlights nonmetropolitan workforce shortages and state by state comparison of physician distribution.
Date: 12/2025
Sponsoring organizations: Health Resources and Services Administration, National Center for Health Workforce Analysis
view details

Targeted Nursing Interventions for Improving Stroke Care and Outcomes in the Rural Setting: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association
Discusses opportunities and continuing challenges in the use of service delivery models and technological innovations to support accessible and high-quality nurse-delivered stroke care in rural settings. Covers topics including telemedicine, artificial intelligence, nursing workforce education, data use, and more.
Author(s): Renee Colsch, Wendy Dusenbury, Michelle Camicia, et al.
Citation: Stroke, 57(1), e45-e57
Date: 10/2025
view details

Nurse-Directed Coordination of Cancer Survivorship Care in a Tribal Primary Care Clinic
Examines the feasibility of a nurse cancer care coordinator intervention focused on improving cancer care at a tribally-operated primary care clinic in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Provides data on survivorship care plans, cancer-related distress, time spent on coordination activities, and other aspects of program implementation via a trial utilizing data of 23 American Indian intervention participants.
Author(s): Amber S. Anderson-Buettner, Kathleen A. Dwyer, Zsolt J. Nagykaldi, et al.
Citation: BMC Primary Care, 26, 334
Date: 10/2025
view details

Comparing Disaster-Related Surge Staffing Practices Across Rural and Non-Rural Nursing Homes
Explores whether rural and non-rural nursing homes implemented different disaster-related staffing approaches. Analyzes data from 361 CMS-certified nursing homes that were exposed to the direct path of Hurricane Michael in 2018. Compares the change in pre- and post-disaster staffing across three dimensions of nursing home staffing: intensity, licensure composition, and employment composition.
Citation: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 73(12), 3829-3835
Date: 09/2025
view details