Nurses and nurse practitioners

Completed Projects

Alphabetical list. You can also view by project completion date.

• Assessing Rural-Urban Nurse Practitioner Supply and Distribution in 12 States Using Available Data Sources
  This study compared estimates of nurse practitioner (NP) supply in 12 states (statewide and rural vs. urban) derived from two sources: state license records and National Provider Identifier (NPI) data.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physicians, Workforce
  
• Current Contribution of Physicians, Advanced Practice Nurses, and Physician Assistants to the Rural Primary Care Workforce
  This two-year, multi-state study is examining the practices of rural physicians, nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician assistants (PAs) regarding their primary care visit productivity and scope of practice. Through surveys, this study will examine the contributions of physicians, NPs, and PAs by state, degree of practice rurality, practice characteristics, and primary care HPSA status in order to provide information on a range of rural primary care workforce needs.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Physicians, Workforce
  
• Examining the Legal Landscape in Rural America: Implications for the Healthcare Workforce, Access to Care, and Population Health
  This project explores potential rural/urban differences in the prevalence of malpractice claims, clinical privilege actions, and state licensure actions among health care providers. We will also examine whether variations in nurse practitioner scope of practice laws affect rural residents differentially, especially with respect to preventive care.
  Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Allied health professionals, Health services, Legislation and regulation, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Workforce
  
• Factors Associated with Rural-Residing Registered Nurses' Choices to Work in Urban Locations and Larger Rural Cities
  While larger numbers of registered nurses (RNs) are living in rural areas, research from the WWAMI RHRC shows that since 1980, a growing percentage are commuting from rural residences to work within urban and larger rural cities. This study will explore factors that may be associated with RNs' decisions to commute away from their rural areas of residence to work in less rural areas.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Workforce
  
• Increasing the Supply of Providers with a Drug Enforcement Agency Waiver to Treat Opioid Addiction in Rural America – Possible Effects of Permitting Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners to Prescribe Buprenorphine
  This study investigated the possible effects on rural access to treatment for opioid use disorder if Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) waivers for prescribing buprenorphine as an office-based outpatient treatment for opioid addiction are available to Physician Assistants (PAs) and Nurse Practitioners (NPs).
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Legislation and regulation, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Physicians, Substance use and treatment, Workforce
  
• Long Term Trends in Characteristics of the Rural Nurse Workforce: A National Health Workforce Study
  This national study characterizes changes in the demographic, education and practice characteristics of registered nurses (RNs) in rural and urban areas from 1980 to 2004. This study provides important information for projecting future trends in rural RN supply.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Workforce
  
• Malpractice Claims Among Rural and Urban Providers: Do State Telehealth Laws Make a Difference?
  This project examines trends in state telehealth laws and whether they have affected the rural and urban malpractice environments differentially. Data from the National Practitioner Data Bank are used to determine whether changes in telehealth laws are associated with increased malpractice claims and other adverse actions against providers.
  Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Allied health professionals, Legislation and regulation, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Telehealth, Workforce
  
• Perceived Facilitators and Barriers to Rural Ambulatory Care Practice Among Registered Nurses
  Although a quarter of all registered nurses work in ambulatory care settings, little research has addressed the factors associated with their remaining in the profession and current job settings. The study surveyed a sample of rural and urban nurses to ascertain perceived facilitators and barriers to remaining in rural practice.
  Research center: Rural and Minority Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Workforce
  
• Post-acute Care Trajectories for Rural Medicare Beneficiaries
  Utilization and costs of post-acute care for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries have grown rapidly during the last decade. This study examined post-acute care utilization for rural Medicare beneficiaries following acute hospitalization, describing use of home health and skilled nursing care and trajectories of care across settings.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Aging, Allied health professionals, Health services, Home health, Hospitals and clinics, Medicare, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Post-acute care
  
• Practice Characteristics of Rural Nurse Practitioners in the United States
  This study will use data from HRSA's first National Sample Survey of Nurse Practitioners (NSSNP) to expand on the agency's basic descriptive analyses of rural and urban nurse practitioners (NPs).
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Workforce
  
• Role of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses in Addressing Mental Health Workforce Shortages
  Research center: Maine Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Mental and behavioral health, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Workforce
  
• Rural Nursing Workforce: Current Educational Characteristics and Options for Improvement
  This project examined the current distribution of nurses, subset by educational attainment, across the rural U.S. using data from Census Public-Use Microdata files. Then surveyed approximately 750 registered nurse to bachelor of science in nursing (RN-to-BSN) educational programs across the U.S. identifying the proportion of programs offering rural content or facilitating rural placement.
  Research center: Rural and Minority Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Workforce
  
• State of Rural Health Provider Organizations and Health Professional Shortages
  This study addresses the convergence of health professions shortages and financial limitations among rural hospitals and rural home health providers. Successful strategies or best practices implemented in rural areas to address the shortages will be identified.
  Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Allied health professionals, Home health, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Workforce
  
• Team-Based Primary Care in Rural Communities
  This project will describe primary care practice structure in rural communities and quantify characteristics of primary care teams associated with high-quality care.
  Research center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Allied health professionals, Healthcare access, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physicians, Quality, Rural statistics and demographics, Workforce
  
• The Supply and Distribution of the Primary Care Health Workforce in Rural America
  This study will describe the supply and distribution of primary care providers in the rural U.S. at national, regional, and state levels using the most recent data available. Primary care health professionals include family physicians, general practitioners, general internists, pediatricians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Physicians, Workforce
  
• Understanding the Prescribing Practices of Rural Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants with a DEA Waiver to Prescribe Buprenorphine
  This study investigated the extent to which nurse practitioners and physician assistants who practice in rural areas and have a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) waiver to prescribe buprenorphine as an office-based outpatient treatment for opioid use disorder are providing this treatment to their patients.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Substance use and treatment
  
• What Are the Possible Impacts of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants on Future Provision of Primary Care in Rural Areas?
  This study will explore how many nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs) and physicians will be required to meet rural health care demand resulting from expanded access to health insurance through implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Physicians, Workforce
  
• What Is the Geographic Distribution of the Workforce with a DEA Waiver to Prescribe Buprenorphine?
  This project updated statistics on the supply of providers (physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) with a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) waiver to prescribe buprenorphine and examine supply trends over time and also established baseline numbers of other eligible providers (e.g., midwives, clinical nurse specialists).
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Health services, Healthcare access, Mental and behavioral health, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Physicians, Substance use and treatment, Workforce
  
• What Strategies Are Nurse Practitioner Educational Programs Using to Encourage Rural Practice?
  This study will quantify and describe nurse practitioner (NP) education programs that encourage NPs to practice in rural areas, and identify data sources that could be used in future studies of the effectiveness of these programs.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Workforce
  
• Who Provides Mental Health Services to Rural Medicare Beneficiaries?
  Most rural counties do not have a psychiatrist to care for the common conditions of depression or anxiety. This study describes the provider workforce that cares for rural elderly patients with depression/anxiety, including regional and rural-urban variations in mental healthcare provision.
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Health services, Medicare, Mental and behavioral health, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Physicians, Substance use and treatment, Workforce