Ensuring that patients have access to the quality health care professionals of their choice
In 2014, Americans say nurses have the highest honesty and ethical standards. Members of Congress and car salespeople were given the worst ratings among the 11 professions included in this year's poll. Eighty percent of Americans say nurses have "very high" or "high" standards of honesty and ethics, compared with a 7% rating for members of Congress and 8% for car salespeople.
Articles & Resources
Nursing Most Trustworthy Profession
Gallup
December 18, 2014
The Case for Letting Nurse Practitioners Do More
Vox
June 4, 2014
Conquering the Doctor Shortage
USA Today
February 8, 2014
Expanded roles for nurse practitioners and physician assistants could ease the manpower void, experts say. Waiting weeks to see a doctor. Scrambling to find one. Foregoing care altogether. Is this our future? America already doesn't have enough doctors, with a shortage of 45,000 forecast by 2020.
One answer to our health care crisis: Let nurse practitioners do primary care on their own.
Free the Nurses
Slate
April 18, 2013
A brief snapshot of the state of healthcare in SC with descriptions of the roles of APRNs and solutions for the future
White Papers
August 12, 2011
Looking Ahead: Rural-Urban Differences in Anticipated Need
for Aging-Related Assistance
South Carolina Rural Health Research Center
June 2016
With the general aging of the U.S. population, activity restrictions and subsequent need for help may become more prevalent. Prior research conducted by the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center (SCRHRC) found that while rural older adults with a disability can anticipate a longer lifespan than urban adults, this is associated with a longer period of time for which support is needed. Recent SCRHRC research has also found that rural areas tend to be served by fewer providers of home health services, services that can keep disabled persons in their homes rather than in institutional care.
The United Health Foundation, along with our partner the American Public Health Association, is pleased to present the 26th edition of the America’s Health Rankings® Annual Report: A Call to Action for Individuals and Their Communities. First published in 1990, the Annual Report provides the longest-running state-by-state analysis of factors affecting the health of individuals and communities across America. It delivers an in-depth, trusted view into the status of America’s health that has been used by state and local public health leaders across the country to inform state health priorities and help transform health systems.
America's Health Rankings Annual Report
United Health Foundation
December 2015
How Could Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Be Deployed to Provide Rural Primary Care?
Rural Health Research Center
March 2016
Using PAs and NPs to help meet the needs of newly insured populations in rural areas may be an effective strategy to alleviate the effects of physician shortage, especially in states with less restrictive practice environments for non-physician primary care providers.
Rural primary care shortages may be alleviated if more nurse practitioners (NPs) practiced there. This study compares urban and rural primary care NPs (classified by practice location in urban, large rural, small rural, or isolated small rural areas) using descriptive analysis of the 2012 National Sample Survey of NPs. A higher share of rural NPs worked in states without physician oversight requirements, had a DEA (drug enforcement administration) number, hospital admitting privileges, and billed using their own provider identifier. Rural NPs more often reported they were fully using their NP skills, practicing to the fullest extent of the legal scope of practice, satisfied with their work, and planning to stay in their jobs. We found lower per capita NP supply in rural areas, but the proportion in primary care increased with rurality. To meet rural primary care needs, states should support rural NP practice, in concert with support for rural physician practice.
Nurse Practitioner Autonomy and Satisfaction in Rural Settings
Medical Care Research and Review
January 29, 2016
Officials hope to cure SC's doctor shortage
The State
January 15, 2014
In parts of South Carolina, a doctor can be as elusive as a Bluetick Coonhound with insomnia. Many counties and parts of many others are designated health care provider shortage areas. And while there have been efforts to change that, progress is slow because it can take many years to produce a doctor, and there are only so many slots available in medical schools and hospital residencies needed to complete training. Now the state Department of Health and Human Services is stepping in with a couple of ideas it hopes will blunt the impact of the shortage and improve access to health care in parts of the state where doctors are particularly hard to find.
Despite South Carolina’s sizable contribution to medical education, the state is facing an overall physician shortage. Perhaps more pressing for the state, however, is the maldistribution of primary care physicians in rural and low-income areas. Of the 46 counties in South Carolina, all have shortages in primary care and/ or pockets of medically underserved populations. Although South Carolina boasts strong medical schools and high resident retention rates, the state has struggled to attract and retain physicians to serve in these areas. Current inadequacies in the physician workforce in South Carolina highlight gaps in the “physician pipeline,” beginning from pre-medical school programs through incentives for physicians to work in rural and underserved counties of the state after residency.
Leveraging Graduate Medical Education to Increase Primary Care
and Rural Physician Capacity in South Carolina
South Carolina GME Advisory Group
January 2014
The majority of NP's provide office-based procedures, such as suturing, wart-freezing, and skin-lesion biopsy, that are considered minor surgeries. For general surgery, some NP's can serve in the first-assist role after completing NP education while also providing advanced practice nursing care in the preoperative period.
Can a Nurse Practitioner do That?
Barton Associates
August 12, 2016
