ANEW Project to Develop and Support Rural Primary Practice

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v21i1.649

Abstract

South Dakota is one of the nation’s most rural and frontier states and has the highest proportion of rural dwellers in the Midwest.  Many of the state’s counties suffer from provider shortages, with nurse practitioners increasingly being called upon to fill the role of the primary care provider in clinics and critical access hospitals. However, family nurse practitioner (FNP) education programs are not required to provide the training and skills necessary to meet the unique challenges of rural practice.

An Upper Midwest land grant university prepares both masters and doctoral FNP students to fill primary care provider needs in South Dakota and the surrounding region. The purpose and scope of this two-year Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) project was to enhance an existing academic/practice partnership to prepare primary care advanced practice registered nursing (APRN) students for practice in rural and/or underserved settings in the state and region. The ANEW project provided FNP students with a longitudinal primary care clinical traineeship experience in rural clinical settings.

Trainees benefited from traineeship funds, learning advanced procedures and skill concepts through attendance at a series of educational workshops, and job placement efforts postgraduation. The ANEW project also provided for a comprehensive preceptor development collaborative designed to enhance competence and confidence for independent rural practice and facilitate job placement in rural communities after graduation.

This project strengthened the quality of FNP education through an academic/practice partnership which resulted in a symbiotic, synergistic relationship to address rural work force supply and the identification of the knowledge and skills needed for current and future rural healthcare providers.

Keywords: family nurse practitioner, education, preceptor, academic, practice partnership, rural primary healthcare, healthcare provider shortage

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v21i1.649 

Author Biographies

  • Nicole Ann Gibson, South Dakota State University

    DNP, CNP, FNP-C

    Electrophysiology DNP, North Central Heart Institute

  • Brandi Pravecek, South Dakota State University

    DNP, CNP, FNP-C

    Clinical Assistant Professor

    Undergraduate Nursing

  • Linda Burdette, South Dakota State University

    PhD, RN

    Associate Professor, Assistant Dean

    Undergraduate Nursing

  • LeAnn Lamb, South Dakota State University

    MSN, RN, WHNP-C

    Instructor, APRN Clinical Coordinator

    Undergraduate Nursing

Downloads

Published

2021-05-04

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 1 (2021): Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care, 21(1)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share (for non-commerical purposes) the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).