Rural Health
Research Gateway

Nurses and nurse practitioners

Research Products & Journal Articles

Browse the full list of research publications on this topic completed by the Rural Health Research Centers.

Products – Freely accessible products include policy briefs, fact sheets, full reports, chartbooks, and interactive data websites.

Journal Articles – Articles in peer-reviewed journals may require a subscription or affiliation with a subscribing library. For these publications, Gateway lists the article citation, a brief summary, a link to additional information and access to the full-text of the article, if available.

2024

  • Trends in the Health Workforce Supply in the Rural U.S.
    Report
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 10/2024
    This report examines the availability of current and historical workforce data for a variety of health care professionals and provides estimates of the trends in the supply and distribution in the rural vs. urban U.S. workforce.

2022

2021

2020

  • A National Survey of RN-to-BSN Programs: Are They Reaching Rural Students?
    Journal Article
    Rural and Minority Health Research Center
    Date: 10/2020
    This study used a national survey of RN-to-BSN programs to better understand their potential role in addressing disparities in BSN-prepared nurses in rural and urban areas. The results are needed to inform policymakers and stakeholders who are responsible for addressing the status and needs of nursing education.
  • Nurse Practitioner Autonomy and Complexity of Care in Rural Primary Care
    Journal Article
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 07/2020
    The increasing number of nurse practitioners (NPs) in the rural U.S. has the potential to help alleviate primary care shortages. Using a nationwide source of claims and Electronic Health Record data from 2017, this study constructs measures of NP clinical autonomy and complexity of care.
  • Supply and Distribution of the Primary Care Workforce in Rural America: 2019
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2020
    Maintaining an adequate supply of primary care providers in the U.S. is one of the key challenges in rural healthcare. This study examines the 2019 supply and geographic distribution of primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants across rural areas of the U.S.
  • Supply and Distribution of the Primary Care Workforce in Rural America: A State-Level Analysis
    Report
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2020
    Maintaining an adequate supply of primary care providers in the U.S. is one of the key challenges in rural health care. This study examines the 2019 supply and geographic distribution of primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants across rural areas of the U.S., providing state-level data briefs.
  • The Supply and Rural-Urban Distribution of the Obstetrical Care Workforce in the U.S.
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2020
    Monitoring the supply of the obstetrical (OB) care workforce is important for identifying areas that may lack OB care access. This brief describes the supply and geographic distribution of obstetricians, advanced practice midwives, midwives (not advanced practice), and family physicians in rural versus urban counties.
  • The Supply and Rural-Urban Distribution of the Obstetrical Care Workforce in the U.S. - A State-Level Analysis
    Report
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2020
    Monitoring the supply of the obstetrical (OB) care workforce is important for identifying areas that may lack OB care access. This set of data briefs describes the supply and geographic distribution of obstetricians, advanced practice midwives, midwives (not advanced practice), and family physicians in rural versus urban counties for every state.
  • Factors Associated With Perceived Job Preparedness Among RNs: Results From a National Survey
    Journal Article
    Rural and Minority Health Research Center
    Date: 05/2020
    This article examines perceived job preparedness by demographic and professional characteristics among practicing registered nurses who completed a national survey. Rural and male nurses felt less prepared for nursing practice and may benefit from tailored educational experiences to improve perceptions of being prepared for the workforce.
  • Rural-Urban Differences in Educational Attainment Among Registered Nurses: Implications for Achieving an 80% BSN Workforce
    Journal Article
    Rural and Minority Health Research Center
    Date: 05/2020
    Our primary objective was to provide updated information on rural-urban differences in educational attainment. We also examined rural-urban differences in employment type, salary, and demographics among registered nurses in different practice settings.
  • Rural and Urban Differences in Primary Care Pain Treatment by Clinician Type
    Policy Brief
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 04/2020
    In this brief, we compare 2017 opioid prescribing rates among physicians and nurse practitioners within primary care practices and how these differ for rural versus urban areas.

2019

  • The Development of Telehealth Laws in the U.S. from 2008 to 2015: A Legal Landscape
    Policy Brief
    Southwest Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 11/2019
    This study examines the scope and evolving nature of telehealth statutes and regulations in the U.S. Our research aims to understand changes in telehealth laws over time (2008-2015), variations in legal frameworks established across the U.S., and the extent that state laws regulate the primary care delivery through the use of telehealth.
  • Prescribing Practices of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Waivered to Prescribe Buprenorphine and the Barriers They Experience Prescribing Buprenorphine
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 10/2019
    This study surveyed rural and urban nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) with Drug Enforcement Agency waivers to provide medication treatment for opioid use disorder by prescribing buprenorphine. Rural NPs and PAs reported facing many of the same barriers to providing buprenorphine as rural physicians have reported.
  • RN-to-BSN Programs: Challenges for Rural Nurse Education
    Policy Brief
    Rural and Minority Health Research Center
    Date: 10/2019
    To ascertain the status of rural-focused nursing education, we surveyed registered nurse to bachelor of science in nursing (RN-to-BSN) programs. Using an American Association of Colleges of Nursing mailing list, surveys were mailed to all schools with RN-to-BSN programs. This report summarizes responses from the 237 that completed surveys.
  • Rural Registered Nurses: Educational Preparation, Workplace, and Salary
    Policy Brief
    Rural and Minority Health Research Center
    Date: 10/2019
    Using national data from census data from the 2011-2015 American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample, this brief looks at the reported education levels and worksites of rural and urban registered nurses.
  • Perceived Facilitators and Barriers to Rural Nursing Practice
    Policy Brief
    Rural and Minority Health Research Center
    Date: 08/2019
    A web-based survey was disseminated to a geographically diverse sample of nurses throughout the U.S. to assess perceived barriers and facilitators to nursing practice; job satisfaction; and self-identified challenges in nursing work environments and patient care. Of particular interest were nurses in ambulatory care practices.

2018

2017

2016

  • How Could Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Be Deployed to Provide Rural Primary Care?
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 03/2016
    New (2014) rural enrollees in the insurance plans on federal and state exchanges are expected to generate about 1.39 million primary care visits per year. At a national level, it would require 345 full-time equivalent physicians to provide those visits. This study examines how different mixes of physicians, PAs, and NPs might meet the increase.
  • Nurse Practitioner Autonomy and Satisfaction in Rural Settings
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 01/2016
    Compares urban and rural primary care nurse practitioners (NPs) by practice location in urban, large rural, small rural, or isolated small rural areas by using analysis of the 2012 National Sample Survey of NPs.

2015

2014

2012

2010

  • Nurse Staffing and Rural Hospital Performance
    Policy Brief
    Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 12/2010
    This policy brief examines the impact of nurse staffing on rural hospital performance improvement in the CMS/Premier Inc. Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration project.

2009

  • Threats to the Future Supply of Rural Registered Nurses
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 04/2009
    Shortages of registered nurses (RNs) in rural areas of the United States may grow even greater in the coming years as the "baby boom" generation retires and as RNs commute to larger towns and urban areas for work.

2007

  • Changes in the Rural Registered Nurse Workforce From 1980 to 2004 (Final Report)
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 10/2007
    With data from 1980-2004 National Sample Surveys of Registered Nurses, and using Rural-Urban Commuting Area definitions, this study describes changes in rural and urban registered nurse demographics, education, and employment characteristics over time.
  • Changes in the Rural Registered Nurse Workforce From 1980 to 2004 (Project Summary)
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 10/2007
    Current and projected nationwide shortages of registered nurses (RNs) threaten access to and quality of care in most parts of the country. In rural areas, healthcare is frequently challenged by uneven distribution of healthcare providers, including nurses. This report shows changes in the rural RN workforce from 1980 to 2004.
  • The Washington State Nurse Anesthetist Workforce: A Case Study
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 02/2007
    The purpose of this study was to describe the Washington State Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) workforce and analyze selected dimensions of their clinical practice.

2006

2005

  • The State of Rural Hospital Nursing and Allied Health Professional Shortages
    Southwest Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 12/2005
    This study estimated shortages of nurses and allied health personnel among rural hospitals to gauge the difficulty experienced by rural hospitals in recruiting such personnel. The study also examined strategies these hospitals use in recruitment and retention of nurses and addressed strategies that might effectively address such shortages.

2004

2003

1998

  • Availability of Anesthesia Personnel in Rural Washington and Montana
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 03/1998
    Anesthesia has historically been an undersupplied specialty. Health personnel issues used to be dominated by the findings of the 1980 Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee study, which suggested that anesthesia would be a balanced specialty for the rest of the century. Recent studies, however, have demonstrated that there is an oversupply of all specialists, including anesthesiology. These studies take a "top down" view of health personnel through analysis of national statistics and exploration of subsets of the data by hospital size and rurality. This approach assumes that the databases of the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association are accurate and do not take into account the presence of certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), who are the predominant providers of anesthesia care in the smallest and most remote hospitals in the United States. We compared the 1994 master file of the American Medical Association with our local knowledge of the practitioners in the rural areas of Washington state and found numerous small errors. These errors of one or two practitioners made no difference to the analysis of practitioner groups with more than approximately five people, but in the most rural communities the erroneous presence or absence of a single practitioner made a significant difference.