A rural outreach program for emergency nurses

Abstract

Nurses practicing in a rural setting play a vital role in providing and improving rural emergency care. 1 In many small rural hospitals nurses manage the initial care of critically ill patients, a 3 However, the nurse who works in the rural emergency department often has several other duties, such as hospital shift supervisor, critical care unit staff member, or provider of obstetric coverage, and there is limited opportunity to obtain continuing education within rural communities.i, 5 In addition, economic pressures have forced many rural hospitals to adopt ED staffing patterns that allow little time for staff education. Travel times from the rural community to a course given in an urban setting can take 2 to 4 hours in West Virginia; a 1-hour course can become a full-day project. The Emergency Nurses Partnership Program (ENPP) of West Virginia University was created to provide an opportunity for continuing education to be presented at rural hospitals, to encourage interaction between the rural emergency nurses and the ENPP teaching staff, and to allow for a precepted experience at a tertiary care facility. The partnership program resulted from the use of Partners in Health Care hospitals as the source of survey information and as the initial target audience. It also resulted from the partnership of the rural nurse with a tertiary care staff nurse during the clinical portion of the program. The program was specifically targeted for full-time and parttime nurses who work in the emergency department. However, any health care provider at the hospital was welcome to participate.