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Rural Health Information Hub

Washington Resources

Federally Designated Health Professional Shortage Areas for Mental Care in Washington
Shows full or partial areas of counties designated as Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) in Washington.
Date: 04/2025
Sponsoring organization: Washington State Department of Health
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Training a Rural Oral Health Workforce: Effects of Rural Background on Dentist Practice Choice
Assesses outcomes from 2012-2021 of the Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program, an educational track of the University of Washington School of Dentistry that aims to produce graduates who practice in rural areas of the Pacific Northwest. Features demographics and statistics with breakdowns by rural or nonrural upbringing.
Author(s): Anna R. Forsyth, Arsen A. Melkonyan, Kristopher Kerns, et al.
Citation: Journal of Dental Education, 89(2), 177-185
Date: 02/2025
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Washington's Health Workforce Sentinel Network Findings Brief: Rural Health Clinics
Describes reasons for long vacancies and high turnover and retention problems at Washington Rural Health Clinics, based on survey responses collected from 2022-2025. Examines problems such as lack of child care, housing, delays in licensing, and workplace violence.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organizations: The Health Workforce Sentinel Network, UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
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Washington's Health Workforce Sentinel Network Findings Brief: Small Hospitals
Describes reasons for long vacancies, high turnover, and retention problems at Washington hospitals with 25 beds or fewer. Examines problems such as lack of child care and housing, and workplace violence. Mentions rural throughout.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organizations: The Health Workforce Sentinel Network, UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
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Washington's Health Workforce Sentinel Network Findings Brief: Rural Health Workforce
Reports on rural health workforce challenges in Washington State, utilizing survey response data from healthcare employers. Highlights topics including workforce training, education, recruitment, and retention, and details employer strategies to address staffing challenges and identifies community factors influencing staffing.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organizations: The Health Workforce Sentinel Network, UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
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Firearm Experiences, Behaviors, and Norms Among Rural Adolescents
Examines handgun carrying experiences and social norms among 93 rural adolescents in Washington state. Utilizes survey, interview, and focus group data to provide data on having carried a handgun, age at first carry, and views on acceptable and unacceptable ways to engage with firearms, reasons for carrying, and places to carry.
Author(s): Elizabeth H. Weybright, Heather F. Terral, Ashley Hall, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 7(10), e2441203
Date: 10/2024
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Characteristics of the Current Dental Hygienist Workforce in Washington State
Reports on dental hygienist (DH) supply, distribution, and characteristics in Washington State, utilizing data from a survey of 995 DHs. Provides demographic data including rural versus urban location of residence. Features county-level maps showing DH geographic distribution.
Author(s): Grace A. Guenther, Samantha W. Pollack, Benjamin A. Stubbs, Bianca K. Frogner, Susan M. Skillman
Date: 08/2024
Sponsoring organizations: UW Center for Health Workforce Studies, Washington Oral Health Workforce
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Energizing and Equipping Rural Providers in Washington State to Increase HPV Vaccination of Preteens, Ages 9-12
Describes a partnership to increase human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among rural and non-English-speaking preteens in Washington State. Discusses collaboration between the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Washington State Department of Health to provide webinars, printed materials, and more to providers at participating clinics. Includes provider feedback data.
Author(s): Sherri Zorn, DeAnna Pittenger
Date: 07/2024
Sponsoring organization: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
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How a Rural Health System Continues to Provide Essential Obstetric Services
Podcast episode describing how Kittitas Valley Healthcare in rural Washington State worked to continue to provide obstetric services at its Critical Access Hospital (CAH) amid the departure of its full-time obstetric providers. Discusses the involvement of the governing board and recruitment and retention efforts.
Date: 07/2024
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Estimating the Burden and Distribution of Post–COVID-19 Condition in Washington State, March 2020–October 2023
Examines the prevalence of post–COVID-19 condition (PCC) in Washington State, utilizing a framework that incorporated data on reported COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations with estimates of PCC progression from the Household Pulse Survey. Includes data on population subgroups as well as a county-level map of Washington and corresponding chart showing PCC prevalence changes from January 2020 to January 2023.
Author(s): Arran Hamlet, Daniel Hoffman, Sharon Saydah, Ian Painter
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 21
Date: 06/2024
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Additional resources are available. See a full list of Washington Resources.